Summary Health Statistics for U.S. Children: National Health Interview Survey, 2006

The latest report from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) presents selected health measures for children under 18 years of age, by sex, age, race, family structure, parent education, family income, poverty status, health insurance coverage, etc. The topics covered are asthma, allergies, learning disability, ADHD, prescription medication use, self-reported health status, school days missed, and various measures of health and dental care. The interviewed sample for 22006 consisted of 29,204 households, which yielded 75,7116 people in 29,868 families. Within these families, data was collected on 8,837 children under the age of 18.

The highlights for children under 18 years old include:

• 14% have been diagnosed with asthma (boys, black children, and poor children were more likely to have been diagnosed);
• 13% of children take a prescription medication regularly for a health condition;
• 10% had no health insurance coverage;
• 8% have a learning disability;
• 7% of children had unmet dental needs (37% of uninsured children had no dental care within two years);
• 7% of children had ADHD (boys are twice as likely as girls to receive this diagnosis);and
• 5% of children missed 11 or more days of school in the past year due to illness or injury (children in single-mother families were more than twice as likely to miss > 11 days of school compared with children in two-parent families).

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Labels: Research

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Abstinence-Only Programs Do Not Reduce Risk

Another study, "Sexual Abstinence-Only Programs to Prevent HIV Infection in High-Income Countries: Systematic Review," was published in the British Medical Journal and included data from 13 trials involving almost 16,000 youth. The results from researchers at the University of Oxford mirror many other studies suggesting that abstinence-only programs are not an effective way of preventing HIV infection.

Dr. Kristen Underhill and her colleagues found that compared to no program and safer sex programs, abstinence-only programs did not influence the rate of unprotected vaginal sex, condom use, the number of sexual partners, or the timing of first sexual intercourse. In fact, data from one of the trials suggested abstinence-only programs were associated with a rise in sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. On the other hand, programs that promoted condom use, especially those that were tailored to address high-risk behavior, did reduce the risk of acquiring HIV.

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Labels: Research, Sexuality Education

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Alcohol Use and School Attachment

Alcohol use in middle school has become an increasing concern after the 2003 wave of the Monitoring the Future study reported that 20% of the 8th graders completing a survey reported having ever been drunk, and 7% reported having been drunk in the last 30 days. This is an obviously disturbing fact by itself, but to make matters worse, we know that addiction that starts early is harder to control as an adult.

A research article in the February 2007 issue of the Journal of School Health suggested that improving the school climate may result in less substance abuse among students. This conclusion is based on their results which suggest that regardless of a student's own level of school attachment, students who attend schools where pupils tend to be attached to the schools are less likely to use alcohol, have less intention to use alcohol, and perceive that fewer other students in school use alcohol.

Their data was collected between 1999 and 2003 from 4,216 youth in 32 middle and junior high schools across the United States using the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The results of this study would suggest that while most interventions attempt to change individual behavior, the more effective interventions may focus on changing the school climate to enhance attachment to school. Attachment is stronger when the school environment is pleasant, there are positive bonds between faculty and students, when teachers and students participate in activities together, and that student have the opportunity to serve in leadership roles.

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Labels: Alcohol, Research, Substance Abuse

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Link Between Oral Cancer and HPV

An article in the New England of Medicine reported last week that having had 26 or more lifetime sexual partners, or six or more oral sex partners was significantly associated with oropharyngeal cancer, which is significantly associated with being infected with oral HPV type 16 (HPV-16). In addition, infrequent use of condoms and early age of first intercourse were also associated with HPV-16-positive oropharyngeal cancer.

The study was conducted at Johns Hopkins between 2000 and 2005 and included biological specimens as well as an audio, computer-assisted self-administered interview from 200 patients. The results suggest that oral sex without a condom may put teens at risk for sexually transmitted HPV-16, as well as HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.


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Labels: HPV, Research

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