The past year was a pretty good one for children in the United States.
The past year was a pretty good one for children in the United States.
In some ways, however, the hardest work to improve the health of pediatricpatients is yet to be done. As threats from disease are reduced by improvedhygiene, immunizations, and medications, conditions that require behavioralchanges for their remedy become more difficult to ignore. Smoking amongteenagers has increased again, 19% of them don't wear seat belts, and 50%have consumed an alcoholic beverage in the past month. Depression is fartoo common and often unrecognized, and suicide remains near the top of thelist of killers of adolescents and young adults. Children also suffer whentheir parents smoke, abuse drugs, and get depressed, and we have not yetfound effective ways to address those problems. Obesity is increasing amongchildren of all ages. Behavior problems, discipline, and learning disabilitiesare among the most common concerns parents bring to pediatricians, but pediatriciansneed time at each visit and longitudinal involvement with the family toaddress these problems.
There's lots more to do.
Julia A. McMillan, MD, Editor-in-chief of ContemporaryPediatrics, is Vice Chair, Pediatric Education, and Director, ResidencyTraining, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
Comparison of teen- and parent-reported estimates of social and emotional support, 2021 to 2022
July 23rd 2024The investigative team noted that teenagers with emotional and social support are better off to handle stressors such as biological and social transition, and are less likely to experience a variety of adverse physical and mental health outcomes.