In the early twenty-first century America's young people could look forward to living longer than the generations before them had. The average life expectancy for both sexes of all races born in 2001 was 77.2 years, although individual expectations varied considerably according to race and gender. (See Table 5.1.) Average life expectancy for white males born in 2001 was seventy-five years, …
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) defines the infant mortality rate as the number of deaths of babies younger than one year per one thousand live births. Neonatal deaths occur within twenty-eight days after birth and post-neonatal deaths twenty-eight to 365 days after birth. The U.S. infant mortality rate declined from 165 per one thousand live births in 1900 to a record low of 6.8 …
Alcohol consumption by pregnant women can cause Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), a birth defect characterized by a low birth weight, facial abnormalities such as small eye openings, growth retardation, and central nervous system deficits, including learning and development disabilities. The condition is a lifelong, disabling condition that puts those children affected at risk for secondary conditions…
In the second half of the twentieth century, childhood death rates declined dramatically. The majority of childhood deaths are from injuries and violence. While death rates for all ages decreased, the largest declines were among children. In 2001 three of the leading causes of childhood death were unintentional injuries, congenital anomalies (birth defects), and malignant neoplasms (cancers). (See…
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was identified as a new disease in 1981, and, according to the CDC, an estimated 886,575 cases had been diagnosed in the United States through 2002. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which weakens the victim's immune system, making it vulnerable to other TABLE 5.4 opportunistic infections. Young children with AIDS usual…
The proportion of preschool-age children immunized against communicable and potentially dangerous childhood diseases—including diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough), known collectively as DTP; polio; and measles—dropped during the 1980s but rose significantly during the 1990s. By 2002 82% had received four doses of DTP, 90% had received three doses of poliovirus vaccine…
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 11.4% of American children—8.4 million—had no health insurance coverage in 2003. Factors affecting children's access to coverage included their age, race and ethnicity, and family's economic status. Children between the ages of twelve and seventeen were less likely to receive coverage than those under twelve (12.7% versus 10.6%). Poo…
The Urban Institute suggests that as many as 2% of American children are homeless in the course of one year. Doctor Catherine Karr, in Homeless Children: What Every Health Care Provider Should Know (National Health Care for the Homeless Council, December 29, 2003, http://www.nhchc.org/Children/index.htm [accessed July 28, 2004]), argues that these children suffer from frequent health problems. The…
The increasing numbers of overweight and obese Americans has become a national concern. The percentage of overweight children and adolescents has grown significantly since the 1970s. Between 1976 and 1980 6.2% of boys and 6% of girls ages six to eleven years were over-weight. (See Table 5.11.) From 1999 to 2002 those percentages had almost tripled for boys (16.9%) and more than doubled for girls (…
The July 2003 American Lung Association fact sheet "Asthma in Children" reported that asthma was the leading chronic illness in children. Childhood asthma was the third leading cause of hospitalization among children younger than fifteen, and caused 14.6 million missed days of school in 2002. A National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) survey found that in 2001 8.7% of children fr…
Food insecurity is defined as the lack of access to enough food to meet basic needs. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2002 88.9% of U.S. households were food secure (Household Food Security in the United States, 2002). However, the remaining twelve million U.S. households (11.1%) experienced food insecurity at some time during the year. A higher percentage of children than adult…
Lead exposure comes primarily from leaded paints that have worn off or been scraped from older homes. Lead is also found in lead plumbing and emitted by factory smokestacks. Because they have smaller bodies and are growing, children suffer the effects of lead exposure more acutely than adults do. Lead poisoning causes nervous system disorders, reduction in intelligence, fatigue, inhibited infant g…
Marital conflict hurts children whether it results in the breakup of marriages or not. Nearly all the studies on children of divorce have focused on the period after the parents separated. But some recent studies suggest that the negative effects children experience may not come so much from divorce itself as from marital discord between parents prior to divorce. In fact, some research suggests th…
Few factors negatively influence the health and well-being of young people more than the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Monitoring the Future (MTF), a long-term study on the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco conducted by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, annually surveys eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders on their use of these substances. According to the ins…
It is impossible to determine how many children suffer abuse. All observers can do is count the number of reported cases—which include only those known to public authorities—or they can survey families, in which case parents may deny or downplay abuse. As a result, most estimates of child abuse are generally considered low. The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) an…
In the 1980s, as a result of several prominent abductions and tragedies, the media focused public attention on the problem of missing children. Citizens became concerned and demanded action to address what appeared to be a national crisis. Attempting to discover the nature and dimension of the problem, Congress passed the 1984 Missing Children's Assistance Act (PL 98–473). The legisl…
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