ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Pediatric Cardiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1544545
Pediatric Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Global epidemiology and disease burden during the period 1990 to 2021
Provisionally accepted
Ying Chen1,2Rongguo Zhang3Yongxiao Zheng3Shi Chen1,2Chenghong Li1,2Xiaobei Wang1,2
Tao Zhang3Zhenyu Wu4
Fajiu Li1,2*- 1Affiliated Hospital of Jianghan University, Wuhan, China
- 2Wuhan Sixth Hospital, Wuhan, China
- 3Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
- 4Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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Objectives: Pediatric pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a severe and potentially fatal disease; however, the global epidemiological burden of pediatric PAH has not been comprehensively elucidated.The Global Burden of Diseases Study 2021 has incorporated PAH for the first time. This study analyzed the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) associated with pediatric PAH from 1990 to 2021.Results: Globally, the age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR) of pediatric PAH in children aged 0 to 14 years showed a relatively stable, from 0.44 per 100,000 in 1990 to 0.43 per 100,000 in 2021. Females exhibited higher age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR) and ASPR compared to males. The ASIR of pediatric PAH increased modestly, with an average annual growth of 0.12%. Children aged 10-14 years had the highest prevalence, with rates of 0.66 per 100,000 in 1990 and 0.65 per 100,000 in 2021. In contrast, newborns aged 0-6 days experienced the highest mortality rates (34.16 and 13.67 per 100,000) and DALYs rates (3073.56 and 1229.88 per 100,000) during the same period. Countries with high-middle SDI levels had the highest ASPR, while high-SDI countries reported the lowest age-standardized mortality rate and age-standardized disability rate.Conclusions: Globally, prevalence, mortality, and DALYs of pediatric PAH show a declining trend from 1990 to 2021. Females exhibited higher incidence and 4 prevalence rate but lower mortality and DALYs. 10-14 years had the highest prevalence, whereas high PAH-related mortality in neonates remains a critical concern.
Keywords: Epidemiology, pediatric, pulmonary arterial hypertension, disease burden, ;
Received: 27 Feb 2025; Accepted: 31 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Zhang, Zheng, Chen, Li, Wang, Zhang, Wu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fajiu Li, Wuhan Sixth Hospital, Wuhan, China
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