Death rate for U.S. children falls

Frank Greve | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: August 03, 2007 07:11:39 AM

WASHINGTON — Things are looking up for Dr. Catherine Webb, a pediatric cardiologist at Northwestern University in Chicago. "When I was in training in the `80s, this was a pretty depressing specialty," she said. "But it's not anymore."

True enough. The death rate from heart disease among children is about half what it was in 1980, according to a compendium of federal child-health statistics released last month.