ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Policy
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1589309
This article is part of the Research TopicGlobal Health and Warfare: Assessing the Broad Impacts of Conflict on Public HealthView all 19 articles
Global burden of amputation among children and adolescents from 1990 to 2021: Systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
Provisionally accepted
Tao Zhang
Qingsong Chen
Hui Li
Wenyu DuBoyu LiYe ChengLi ShiJianxiao LiYue ZhouGongbin Wei
Dingyuan DU*Guangbin Huang*- Chongqing Emergency Medical Center, Chongqing, China
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Introduction: Amputation among children and adolescents, with its substantial physical, psychological, and economic impacts, remains a significant global health issue.Objectives: This study uses data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) to examine trends in amputation burden among youth aged 0-19 from 1990 to 2021.Methods: This study utilized the 2021 GBD dataset, focusing on the incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disabilities (YLDs) associated with amputations. We applied pinpoint regression and age-period-cohort models to explore trends across the socio-demographic index (SDI) regions, GBD regions, and sex groups from 1990 to 2021, while also forecasting the burden of amputations up to 2040.Results: We found a global decline in the age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), age-standardized prevalence rate (ASPR), and age-standardized YLDs rate (ASYR) for children and adolescents. Specifically, the ASIR decreased from 207.3 per 100,000 people in 1990 to 141.5 per 100,000 in 2021, while the ASPR declined from 2,119.6 to 1,437.8 per 100,000 people. Over the same period, YLDs dropped from 30.7 per 100,000 to 18.3 per 100,000. High-SDI countries experienced the greatest declines, reflecting improvements in healthcare and rehabilitation services. In contrast, low-SDI regions and conflict-3 affected countries like Afghanistan and Syria saw increments in the incidence and prevalence rates. The highest incidence was observed among males aged 15-19 years, with a relative risk of 1.28 compared with the other age groups.Projections indicate that although global incidence rates may continue declining until 2040, disparities in high-risk areas will persist without targeted interventions.Conclusion: This study highlights a global decline in the burden of amputations among children and adolescents but reveals significant disparities based on SDI regions, sex, and age. Targeted public health strategies and resource allocation are, needed to address these inequalities, improve trauma care, and enhance rehabilitation services, especially in high-risk areas.
Keywords: Global Burden of Disease study, Epidemiology, Amputation, Children and adolescents, Sex Disparities Global Burden of Disease study, Sex disparities
Received: 07 Mar 2025; Accepted: 03 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Chen, Li, Du, Li, Cheng, Shi, Li, Zhou, Wei, DU and Huang. 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:
Dingyuan DU, Chongqing Emergency Medical Center, Chongqing, China
Guangbin Huang, Chongqing Emergency Medical Center, Chongqing, China
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