{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T15:49:02Z","timestamp":1772725742173,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1772668800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diseases"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Severe infectious diseases remain a preventable cause of adolescent mortality worldwide, yet global evidence focused on adolescence as a distinct life-course stage\u2014and its vulnerability to health system disruption\u2014remains limited. We examined long-term mortality rate trends, cause composition, and COVID-19\u2013related changes among adolescents compared with late childhood. Methods: We analyzed Global Burden of Disease 2023 mortality estimates from 1990 to 2023 for six acute severe infectious causes: lower respiratory infections, meningitis, encephalitis, diarrhoeal diseases, typhoid\/paratyphoid fever, and COVID-19. Analyses focused on adolescents aged 10\u201319 years, with children aged 5\u20139 years as a comparator. Mortality rates (per 100,000 population) were the primary metric. Trends were quantified using estimated annual percentage change (EAPC), and pre-COVID, COVID peak, and post-COVID periods were compared across Socio-demographic Index (SDI) categories. Results: From 1990 to 2023, mortality rates declined globally across all age groups; however, reductions among adolescents were consistently slower than those among children aged 5\u20139 years (EAPC \u22122.27% vs. \u22123.55% per year). Diarrhoeal diseases and typhoid\/paratyphoid fever exhibited the steepest long-term declines, whereas lower respiratory infections and meningitis demonstrated slower reductions and maintained a substantial share of adolescent mortality risk. During the COVID-19 peak, mortality rates modestly increased among adolescents, while children continued their gradual decline. Mortality rates remained highest in low-SDI settings. Conclusions: Despite substantial global progress, severe infectious diseases continue to impose significant and inequitable mortality risk among adolescents. The persistence of a concentrated cause profile and the amplification of mortality during system disruption underscore adolescence as a vulnerable life-course stage requiring sustained prevention and resilient acute care systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diseases14030094","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T14:19:21Z","timestamp":1772720361000},"page":"94","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Global Mortality from Severe Infectious Diseases Among Adolescents Aged 10\u201319 Years, 1990\u20132023: Long-Term Trends and Cause Composition from the Global Burden of Disease 2023 Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Young Joo","family":"Han","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"GBD 2015 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators (2016). 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Health"}],"container-title":["Diseases"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-9721\/14\/3\/94\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]],"date-time":"2026-03-05T14:51:18Z","timestamp":1772722278000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-9721\/14\/3\/94"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]]},"references-count":29,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3]]}},"alternative-id":["diseases14030094"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/diseases14030094","relation":{},"ISSN":["2079-9721"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2079-9721","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,5]]}}}