Infectious Disease

• Physicians recommend that young children receive a series of immunizations to provide protection against 14 common diseases including measles, mumps, whooping cough, polio, and rubella.

• Many of these diseases have been greatly reduced or even eliminated in recent years, but parents must continue to immunize their young children, or the diseases will regain a foothold in the population.

• About 28% of U.S. infants and toddlers—32% of poverty-stricken children—are not fully immunized:

  • Low-income families may lack health insurance or access

  • Skepticism, Others have religious or philosophical objections

  • Some parents believe discredited media reports of a link between vaccination and autism

  • Public education on immunization is badly needed

Otitis Media

• The immune systems of young children are still developing, so they are not as resistant to common germs as older children and adults.

• Childhood illness rises with child-care attendance, ear infections, strep throat, fever, diarrhea all common

• Respiratory infection increases the risk of otitis media, or middle ear infection, which causes hearing loss

• Important to be aware as children with many bouts may, as a result, be less attentive to others’ speech and less persistent at tasks

Childhood Injuries

• Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of childhood mortality in industrialized nations

• Young children are by their nature more at risk for serious injury and accidents.

  • In general, more curious, explorative

  • Don’t understand direct cause and effect.

  • Mimic older family members.

  • Individual differences in risk-taking include gender and temperament, family and community factors

• Laws help prevent many injuries, such as those requiring car safety seats, child-resistant caps on meds, flameproof clothing, and fencing around pools

• Parents often overestimate children’s knowledge of safety rules

  • Explanations enhance children’s retention of rules!!

Chronic Illnesses

• Chronic illnesses: illnesses that are long lasting, do not resolve themselves spontaneously, and in most cases cannot be completely cured.

• Some, can be detected prenatally or through genetic counseling (e.g. spina bifida, sickle-cell anemia, hemophilia)

• Others can appear at any time in life. These include asthma (the most common chronic illness), arthritis, diabetes, and cancer.

• Estimates of the number of children living with chronic conditions vary depending on the definition used, but by one estimate, 27% of children in the United States live with at least one of these conditions (Focus for Health, n.d.).

• Also runs in families. Increase may partially represent an increase in the number of children living with chronic illnesses that once were fatal.

Environmental Toxins

• Because children are still growing, they are even more vulnerable than adults to environmental toxins.

• Also are more vulnerable because of their physiology and behavior.

  • More permeable blood-brain barrier, more permeable skin, and a less effective filtration system in their nasal passages.

  • Some of their organ systems are still developing

  • Young children also spend more time playing on the floor or outside and frequently put their hands in their mouth.

• Environmental Hazards

  • Some of the hazards include asbestos, household chemicals, lead, mercury, molds, pesticides, and secondhand smoke.

    • These chemicals are associated with “impaired brain development, lower IQs, behavior problems, infertility, birth defects, obesity and diabetes.

  • Lead in older households a particular concern

Socioeconomic Status

• The lower a family’s socioeconomic status, the greater a child’s risks of illness, injury, and death.

• Poorer children are more likely than other children to have chronic conditions and activity limitations, to lack health insurance, and to have unmet medical and dental needs. Issues can also stem prenatally

• Government runs medical programs to help low-income groups including Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), for those who do not qualify for medicaid.

Homelessness

• Homelessness results from complex circumstances.

• Homeless children spend their early years in unstable, insecure, and unsanitary environments.

• Homeless children suffer more health problems than children from low-income families who have homes.

• Factors that contribute to homelessness include lack of employment opportunities, declines in public assistance funds, lack of affordable health care, domestic violence, mental illness, and addiction.

Child Maltreatment

• Child maltreatment: any act committed by a parent or caregiver that results in harm or potential harm to a child.

• Child abuse: deliberate and intentional actions and words that cause harm or potential harm to a child, whether the abuse is physical, sexual, or psychological.

• Neglect: the failure to provide for the basic physical, emotional, medical, or educational needs of a child or failure to protect the child from harm or potential harm. **much more common than abuse

• Child Protective Services (CPS): often toll-free hotline, agency will investigate claims and determine whether there is enough evidence to support the allegation that a child has been maltreated or abused.

  • Children can be removed from the family if they are considered in imminent danger, or services can be provided to the family to prevent further maltreatment if the child is not at imminent risk.

• Victims and Perpetrators: Characteristics

  • Young children at particular risk

  • Sexual abuse four times more likely in girls

  • Boys at greater risk of ill-effects and dying from maltreatment

• Effects of maltreatment

  • Mental disorders, drug use, suicide attempts, and so on

  • Cognitive development

• Impact of psychological abuse, bullying much harder to confirm and validate, often not the focus of CPS