New research out of the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that a growing number of children are dealing with chronic health issues.
To understand how finances and child health were related, researches examined income reports and parent-completed health surveys. After comparing the income information and health assessments, researchers found that rates of asthma and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were rising in the poorer classes. Additionally, researchers noted that children with asthma and/or ADHD were about twice as likely to have another chronic health condition, like epilepsy, developmental delays, autism, depression or behavioral issues.
“[W]e need to be aware that poor children already are at greater risk of common childhood illnesses such as asthma, ADHD and autism often face even more medical conditions on top of these,” said Dr. Christian Pulcini, lead author of the study.
Children and Chronic Health Issues
Other findings form the study include:
- There are a number of factors that contribute to poverty’s detrimental effect on health, including lack of education, lack of access to medical care and lack of social inclusion. These factors can increase a child’s likelihood of developing neurological disorders, flu-related hospitalizations and impair cognitive function.
- Poverty can also impact a child’s health in the form of poor nutritional options, a parent’s lack of education on chronic medical conditions and an inability to afford or even receive transportation to medical care.
Children of parents in poverty face “a greater concentration of risks,” said Pulcini, “such as environmental factors (including environmental toxins), poor nutrition due to food insecurity, lack of education on chronic medical conditions, toxic stress,” and a decreased likelihood of access to quality health care.
Pulcini concluded that lawmakers and health officials should focus on increasing public health efforts to ensure children in the lower-socioeconomic classes aren’t falling by the wayside.
“What our concerted efforts would hopefully lead to is significant policy change…to bolster education, public health efforts, and mitigate environmental exposures in poverty-stricken communities,” he said.
