As parents, teachers, coaches and adult friends, we have a responsibility to educate children about health risks. What advice should we give adolescents? In todays Sixty Second Housecall, Dr. Ken Davis discusses health risks for adolescents.
An important role of the physician is to be an advisor about your health risks. Recent studies show that physicians may not be doing a good job of addressing the real health risks of teenagers. There are 40 million adolescents between the ages of 10 and 21 in the United States.
What are the major health risks for teenagers? It is not the typical medical problems like diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Seventy-five percent of the deaths in this population are from risky behavior.
These
causes and associated behaviors include:
Motor
Vehicle Accidents
Driving while intoxicated or being a passenger with an intoxicated
driver, or
Not wearing a seat belt
Homicide,
associated with
Intoxication or using illicit drugs, or
Psychosocial disorders
Suicide,
from
Under-diagnosed depression, or
Intoxication or using illicit drugs
Injuries:
falls, drowning or poisonings, again associated with
Risk taking behaviors
Psychosocial disorders, and again
Intoxication or using illicit drugs.
Risky behaviors are the primary cause of adolescent injury and death. Parents, teachers and especially physicians should be counseling adolescents about avoiding these deadly risks.
For North Mississippi Medical Center, Im Dr. Ken Davis.