
A survey by the US Department of Health and Human Services's National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that, by the time youth in the US reach early adulthood, a large percentage have begun the poor practices that will contribute to three leading causes of preventable death: smoking, overweight and obesity, and alcohol abuse. Furthermore, the analysis found that significant health disparities exist between racial groups, and that Americans are less likely to have access to health care when they reach adulthood than they did during teenage years. These findings appear in the January 2006 issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.