Chronic health conditions increasing in children

[SoCalDem]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-child-health17-2010feb17,0,456579.story

Chronic health conditions increasing in children, study finds
The rates are higher and the illnesses are different than in previous generations, researchers say, with youths suffering from attention deficit disorder, obesity and asthma.

By Shari Roan

February 17, 2010


More than a quarter of all U.S. children have a chronic health condition, new research suggests, a significant increase from the rate seen in earlier decades and a statistic that looms large for the nation's efforts to subdue rising healthcare costs. But the report doesn't suggest that children are less healthy. The comprehensive look at children from 1988 through 2006 also revealed that health conditions themselves have changed. Fewer children today are affected by congenital defects, infectious diseases and accidents than they were 50 years ago; instead, cultural, lifestyle and environmental conditions appear to be the root cause of many pediatric illnesses.

"The study speaks to the fact that children need continuous access to healthcare," said Dr. Jeanne Van Cleave, a pediatrician at MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston and the lead investigator of the study. "But with good treatment, a lot of these conditions will go away." The paper was released online Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., ahead of print publication Wednesday. Researchers analyzed the prevalence of illnesses by surveying the mothers of approximately 5,000 children. Data from three time periods were analyzed: 1988 to 1994, 1994 to 2000, and 2000 to 2006. In each time frame, the children, ages 2 through 8 at the start of each period, were followed for six years.

The rate of chronic conditions increased from 12.8% in 1994 to 26.6% in 2006. Latino and black youths and males were more likely to have health problems.

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[SpiralHawk]

1. Crappy corporate food syndrome

Shut up and eat your RepubliconRations: Chemicalized up the wazoo with petrochemical based fertilizers, pesticides and weed killers, adulterated beyond abomination with antibiotics, impregnated with hormones beyond glandular tolerance, cranked & processed beyond recognition, gunked up to pancreatic insanity with high fructose corn syrup, and - gurp - increasingly genetically mutant.

Ptoooey on RepubliRations

[Hannah Bell]

2. or possibly it might have something to do with the increasing % of children

living in poverty.

allergies, adhd, & mental health issues are just some of the diagnoses more common in poor children.

[SpiralHawk]

4. Poor = crappy corporate diet

Crappy corporate food = sick weak-minded docile proles.

Clean food = clean people = massive improvement in physical and mental health = strong discerning intelligence & will.

Do the math.

[Hannah Bell]

5. sure, that's why the poor in 1700, 1800 & 1900 died young. because they ate

a crappy corporate diet.

do the math. it's not just diet.

& i'm a dietitian.

[SpiralHawk]

7. Completely irrelevant, HB. Read the OP

"...The rates are higher and the illnesses are different than in previous generations..."

= crappy corporate crudola.

[Double T]

3. Ahhh.......Nothing like the smell of heavily polluted SUV exhaust in the springtime.

And lets fix it with our twice as expensive as it should be health care system. Insanity is the new normal.

[Mari333]

6. welcome to the United States! where the children are suffering

but the defense dept is sitting on a pot of gold.