The Rise in Chronic Illnesses of American Children

The Journal of American Medicine has dedicated the June 2007 issue to childhood illness. The focus is, specifically, the sharp rise in chronic illnesses of American children. These include cancer, obesity, hyperactivity disorders, and asthma, among others. The most striking information in the issue is the forecast on the future of this country's children, if something is not done about the increase in illness. The JAMA predicts more costly health care and more money spent on social programs; as the ill children will become disabled adults. Although nothing can be done to prevent disorders such as cancer and little can stop hyperactivity disorders, the treatment of obesity today can greatly relieve the taxpayers of tomorrow.

The JAMA articles explain how obesity has overtaken the children of the US, with the most prevalent effect being type II diabetes. Diagnosis of this type of diabetes is rising amongst American children. This worries the medical profession, because it is the type that is commonly seen in adults. Doctors say that children are being diagnosed with this disease as a result of their more sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy eating habits. The sedentary lifestyle is also thought to be the culprit behind the higher incidents of asthma in children. Doctors believe that as children spend more and more time indoors, they are getting a more prolonged exposure to dust, dust mites, and other indoor allergens that are know to cause the disease.

The JAMA articles stress the numbers to show the dramatic changes. Compared to the children two decades ago, incident of asthma in today's kids have doubled. Obesity in kids has more than tripled from the 1970's when only 5% of American children had the condition. Today that number is 18%. Kids of this country are also worse off than our neighbors across the pond. Incidents of diabetes in American children beat out European kids fifteen times over.

The medical profession has been crying loudly as of late for the prevention of obesity through diet and exercise. However, with the increased societal interest in electronic media and the American love of high fat, low nutrient foods, those cries are falling on deaf ears. They have tried to get the schools to makes changes by charting the weight and muscle mass of students. Drastic changes have also been made to cafeteria menus across the country. More programs are in the works, but nothing will help unless the parents get involved.

The Learning Channel recently debuted a program that shows the parents of obese children what the kids would look like decades down the line, if the current health habits aren't changed. Week after week, parents are mortified to see the aged photos. They are even more shocked when the host explains how it is their-the parents'-fault that the children have such bad health. It when that realization hits the parents that changes begin to happen. Hopefully, with the widespread publicity that the JAMA's June issue is receiving, parents all across the country will come to the same realization; that drastic changes are needed. Once that happens, then and only then can we stop killing our kids.