Misinformation and disinformation undermine progress in pediatric research: challenges and solutions

Rapidly evolving societal forces in the United States (US) have created a divisive landscape threatening the health of American children through a loss of confidence in biomedical research in the US which undermines seminal achievements in pediatric scientific discovery that have positively affected children’s lives in the past several decades. It is vital that we combat misinformation and disinformation and the negative impact of this evolving trend on public health, policy initiatives, and medical progress. For the purposes of this paper, we use the American Psychological Association’s Consensus Report ( https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/health-misinformation ), which defines misinformation as false or inaccurate information (even if well-intended), regardless of how it originated; in contrast, we define disinformation as untrue assertions that are disseminated with deliberate intent to deceive. By undermining confidence in our past accomplishments and promoting false information about the state of child health, both phenomena threaten future innovation and progress in child health research. 1