Chronic disease and disability in children. Are the risks increasing?
Data from the nation's largest household health survey indicate that the number of children with disabling chronic conditions has doubled over the last 25 years. In describing their approach to this potentially severe public health problem, the authors advance and evaluate several possible explanations for the trend. They conclude that while a portion of the trend may be explained away by artifactual causes such as changes in survey procedures, much of the increase in reporting may be reflective of a genuine change in prevalence of chronic disease among children. Future analysis of this data will focus on improving health promotion programs to target those factors identified as contributing to chronic and disabling conditions in children.
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States