Chronic diseases have become more common over the past 20 years, with nearly one in three young people now living with pediatric-onset conditions that greatly impact their lives, suggests a new study. The latter’s findings are published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Academic Pediatrics.

The researchers analyzed nationally representative data in the US for about 236,500 participants ages 5 to 25 years from the 1999-2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and estimated the annual average increase in chronic conditions (CC) and functional limitations (FL) over time.

They found that the frequency among children ages 5 to 17 years rose from about 23% in 1999/2000 to more than 30% by 2017/2018. This amounts to an estimated annual increase of .24 percentage points or 130,000 additional children per year.