Help the development of the site, sharing the article with friends!
The CSO report on the he alth of our children states that as much as 90 percent. of young Poles has various developmental defects. Every fourth child suffers from chronic diseases. Children are not only lopsided and caries. More and more often they suffer from obesity, allergies and diseases that until recently were reserved for older people - e.g. diabetes - and they also have deteriorating eyesight and hearing.
According to the CSO report on the state ofhe althevery tenthchildhas a chronic illness of at least one disease. Boys are more likely to be ill, in all age groups. There are many reasons for this. One of them is the advancement of medicine. Currently, the lives of premature babies that would not have had a chance to survive 10 years ago are being saved. Another reason is technical progress -children , instead of spending their time playing and exercising, they lose it in front of the TV, computer. Above all, however, the pediatric care system in Poland leaves much to be desired. Doctors who used to monitor the condition of children on an ongoing basis and were able to react in time when something bad happened were withdrawn from schools.
Allergies in children
The GUS report shows that the most common chronic disease is allergies, they affect almost 10 percent of surveyed children. Every fifth Polish child has allergic rhinitis, and every tenth teenager suffers from asthma. In recent years, a rapid increase in the incidence has been observed. The rising statistics are the result of several factors. First of all, we live in an environment that is increasingly allergenic (more and more allergens are in the air). Secondly, we care too much about cleanliness, eliminating microorganisms from the environment of children, which the body then considers hostile. Thirdly, the diagnosis of allergies is becoming more and more accurate, which is why it is more and more often detected also in those children who, until recently, would simply be considered as not resistant to disease. Young Poles are most often allergic to food (cow's milk protein, egg white, gluten, fish, chocolate and citrus), followed by mites, pollen and animal hair. According to experts, the best protection against allergy is to breastfeed your baby for at least the first six months of life. Children with allergies visit a specialist too late. They are often treated with antibiotics for a long time due to recurrent infections, which promotes further allergies. Meanwhile, an allergy can be suspected whenthe child is pouring from the nose almost constantly, has an itchy rash after eating a specific food, red, rough spots appear on the skin (which usually indicates an allergy to cosmetics or washing agents). Less common symptoms of allergies are diarrhea, colic and shortness of breath. The disease will be confirmed by the doctor - the environmental interview will help him / her (whether there is an allergy in the family) and tests that will determine what exactly causes the allergy. The visit should not be delayed, because an untreated allergy promotes the development of asthma, increases the sensitivity to other allergens - a child who is initially allergic only to the hair, but over time becomes allergic to pollen, etc.
ImportantBBS program … that is, tests, balances, immunizations.
It is an ideal prophylaxis of diseases that are quickly and completely curable when detected early.
ResearchBasic urine morphology and analysis, which should be done every 2-3 years. A urine test is recommended when your child is sick frequently. A morphology is recommended by a doctor when something bothers him - it allows to detect hidden infection, inflammation and anemia. An additional examination is an ultrasound - with its help you can "see" whether, for example, cancerous tumors are formed in the body, and also check the condition of internal organs, such as the liver, kidneys, pancreas, etc.
BalanceThese are tests to see if the baby is developing properly. They are usually carried out when the child is 2, 4, 6 and 10 years old. The examination includes a general assessment of the state of he alth, the doctor checks, among others height, weight, eyesight, condition of the teeth, body structure and posture, as well as whether the child has received all the necessary vaccinations.
VaccinationsThey help to protect the child from diseases that could be complicated by e.g. . permanent disability (e.g. polio). Vaccines contain weakened or killed microorganisms (and sometimes only parts of them) which, when introduced into the body, are recognized by the immune system. It begins to produce antibodies that destroy the aggressor, as well as the so-called cells. "Immune memory" - on subsequent contact with a virus or bacteria, they recognize the enemy and stimulate the immune system to function, thus preventing the development of the disease.
Vision defects in children
Nearsightedness, astigmatism, strabismus, poor vision up close - these eye defects are more and more common in children and adolescents. The statistics are divergent here. According to the already cited GUS report, per 1 thousand more than half of children with problems have sight problems (more often in girls). A similar result was obtained in the study of eye defects among school students, conducted on the initiative and under the patronage of Johnson & Johnson - over 50 percent. adolescents have a visual impairment, and the vast majority of these disadvantages aremyopia.
Slightly lower results were achieved in the study under the "I see" program, conducted by the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing and the Independent Public Clinical Ophthalmology Hospital in Warsaw - here the number of adolescents requiring vision correction reaches 40%. (of which 8% did not know that they should wear corrective lenses).
Research carried out locally (e.g. in the Dolnośląskie or Wielkopolska voivodeships) also shows that many children have more than one defect - because defects are usually combined, and children have myopia and astigmatism or hyperopia and strabismus. The observations agree on one point: the age limit from which eye problems develop is decreasing alarmingly.
Until a few years ago, children with myopia in primary school were rare - nowadays in almost every class there is at least one child wearing corrective lenses. The defects are not always detected, because their symptoms are diverse and are not necessarily associated with a visual defect - headaches, lacrimation, blurred letters, burning eyes or double vision, which children complain about, do not often make parents or teachers think. so not always a child with such symptoms goes to a specialist.
Meanwhile - as ophthalmologists emphasize - only early and correct correction of the vision defect allows to obtain a complete improvement of vision and prevent the defect development. A visual impairment may be suspected when a child squints his eyes to see the image further away, sits down close to the TV set (or brings a book to his eyes), or vice versa - moves as far away as possible (this may indicate hyperopia). Warning signals are also headaches, tearing, burning eyes, blurring of the image.
Diabetes in children
Only a dozen or so years ago, children developed mainly type 1 diabetes, today they are also more and more often suffering from the second type of this disease. Doctors have noted an increase in the incidence of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Infants, preschoolers and adolescents are affected. Diabetes mellitus is a disorder that involves the abnormal conversion of glucose supplied with food into energy necessary for the work of cells. In a he althy person, the level of glucose in the blood is kept in the right concentration, and this is done by a hormone called insulin. Diabetes mellitus develops when the pancreas produces too little insulin or when it is not working properly. Type 1 diabetes is called insulin-dependent diabetes. It is based on a chronic process that leads to the slow degradation of insulin-producing (beta) cells of the pancreas and, consequently, to the loss of the ability toits production. Type 1 diabetes must be treated with insulin injections. The disease usually occurs around the age of 10, although doctors observe that younger children also develop type 1 diabetes more and more often. Type 2 diabetes is most often associated with overweight and obesity. It is called non-insulin-dependent diabetes - the cause of elevated blood sugar levels is not a lack of insulin, but its malfunction in the body. Excessive blood glucose levels cause complications - damage to blood vessels that lead to visual impairment, the work of the nervous system and kidneys (type 1), or lipid disorders, hypertension, fatty liver, maturation disorders (type 2). The disease is usually accompanied by characteristic symptoms: the child is constantly thirsty, urinates frequently, eats a lot, but is losing weight. Initially, they may not be noticed - the parents' attention is drawn to the accompanying reluctance to play, irritation, and weakness. As the disease progresses, skin lesions may appear (the skin becomes dry, rough and red), non-healing ulcers and inflammation of the genital organs. Blood and urine tests for glucose are required to diagnose diabetes. Diabetes is diagnosed when the urine glucose is above 111 mmol / L and the fasting blood glucose is at least 7.8 mmol / L and above, and after eating or at any other time of the day, 11.1 mmol / L or more.
According to an expertprof. Alicja Chybicka, president of the Polish Pediatric SocietyMore doctors!
With the reform of 1999, mother and child clinics were closed, D clinics were withdrawn from kindergartens and schools for paediatricians and dentists, sending patients to family doctors. However, when going to the clinic, the mother has no guarantee that a pediatrician will be there, because he does not have to be there. Often the child goes to the family doctor without specialist knowledge. We need not only to train new pediatricians, but also to make them easier to access and return them to school. Pediatricians have to get back to the front line, system changes are necessary. The Polish Pediatric Society calls for the establishment of pediatric consultation centers. Their task would be preventive examination of students in schools, so that the child does not see the doctor only when he is ill, but before something happens to him.
Child obesity
The disease that is most conspicuous, and therefore most easily recognized - but most difficult to treat - is obesity. According to research conducted by the Food and Nutrition Institute in 2000, obesity and overweight occur in 12.6% of people. boys and 12.2 percent. girls from one to 18 years of age. Studies conducted for several yearslater by doctors from the National Obesity Prevention and Treatment Program showed that obese and overweight is already nearly 14 percent. children and teenagers. The fact that the problem is growing is an effect of the modern lifestyle. The causes of overweight and obesity include not only genetic predisposition, but most of all environmental and socio-economic: easy availability of highly processed food with a high content of simple carbohydrates and animal fats, as well as limitation of physical effort. Simply put - obesity can be caused by, for example, watching TV or playing for hours on the computer in the company of hamburgers with french fries, bars, crisps and sweet drinks. At the same time, it is worth knowing that obesity is not only an increased amount of adipose tissue, but also the accumulation of lipids in internal organs, which leads to many related diseases. Obesity is one of the causes of locomotor system diseases (e.g. curvature of the spine, flat feet), in girls it can cause menstrual disorders, and in boys - puberty disorders. It is the main component of the so-called metabolic syndrome (in addition to hypertension and atherosclerosis), as well as one of the causes of diabetes. As BMI (body mass index) increases, so does blood pressure. High blood pressure promotes strokes and heart attacks, and can also cause neurological problems. Obese children are at greater risk of left ventricular hypertrophy because there is an association between a child's BMI and left ventricular size. Hypertrophy of this ventricle in childhood may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. To assess whether a child is overweight or obese already, use the BMI in conjunction with percentile grids. Overweight is considered overweight if the BMI is between the 85th and 95th percentile, and obesity if it is above the 95th percentile.
ImportantNo doctors
The average age of a pediatrician is 58. In 2008, there were about 7.5 thousand children for over 7 million children. paediatricians, by at least 4 thousand not enough. Paediatrics is already on the list of priority specializations (a young doctor has a higher salary), but it takes 6 years to rebuild the staff.
Hearing impairment in children
In the spring of 2008, doctors from the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing in Warsaw examined over 80,000 children aged 7 years. Nearly 20 percent of them had hearing impairment, and as many as 33 percent. - Tinnitus. The research showed something else: about 60 percent. parents of children in whom doctors found hearing problems, previously did not realize that their child's hearing is worse. The most important cause of these problems is neglected chronic exudatesotitis media. Instead of treating them with an antibiotic, doctors often recommend painkillers. Improperly treated inflammation can lead to permanent pathological changes in the ear and permanent hearing loss. Increasingly, hearing problems in children are also caused by an excess of decibels. Noise at school or listening to loud music through headphones damage the cells responsible for hearing. Cells begin to regenerate, but when the baby is constantly exposed to noise, they are permanently damaged. The cause of problems is also overgrown, the so-called the third tonsil, pressing down on the proboscis. A child with hearing loss will not react to soft sounds coming from a distance of 15-20 cm. A hearing defect is diagnosed by an otolaryngologist on the basis of specialist tests. It is worth going to it when the child does not react to the commands repeated several times, cannot chant the sentence correctly (e.g. does not intonate the questions), turns up the TV or stands close to the speakers.
Caries in children
Applies to as much as 70 percent. three-year-olds and 90 percent six-year-olds. It's hard to find a teenager who has all his teeth healed. Caries is one of the few diseases resulting from the lack of proper hygiene. The mechanism of its formation is well known: after each meal, food remains on the teeth and in the spaces between them. The sugars they contain are converted by the bacteria Streptococcus mutans living in the mouth into an organic acid that dissolves the enamel. He althy teeth mean not only a nice smile, but also a lower risk of developing heart disease in the future. Foci of inflammation that form in the periodontal tissues, as well as tartar, are the habitat of bacteria which - when they enter the bloodstream - damage the walls of blood vessels. In places of damage, there is then an atherosclerotic plaque that narrows the capillaries, which in turn can lead to a stroke or a heart attack. Bacteria from a diseased tooth - staphylococci and streptococci - can cause recurrent angina. Initially, white, dull discoloration develops on the tooth with caries. When the caries process reaches the dentin under the enamel surface, it begins to crack and a brown stain appears on the tooth. In order to prevent caries, it is necessary to brush your teeth at least twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, a diet rich in calcium, as well as preventive visits to the dentist - every 3 months, because caries in children develops faster than in adults. The dentist may suggest a dental varnishing procedure that will prevent tooth decay. If the child already has permanent teeth, the dentist can cover them with a thin layer of special varnish to prevent it from embeddingfood is eaten on them.
Bad posture in children
Postural defects have 90 percent. children - according to the data of the Institute of Mother and Child. The most common are flat back (the spine is then too straight, which does not allow for adequate absorption of shocks arising during walking and running), round back (when the head is tilted), concave back (when the child has a strongly protruding belly) and concave-round back (when the belly is tense and the back is tilted forward). Serious diseases such as scoliosis develop in 1-2 percent. kids. Postural defects are the result of a sedentary lifestyle, overweight and obesity, dismissing a child from PE, lack of the habit of maintaining the correct posture during work or rest, too heavy a school bag, and a desk or chair not being adapted to the needs of the young spine. Therefore, a lot depends not only on the parents, who should provide the child with appropriate conditions for learning and sports activities and take them away from the computer, but also from the school (it is important to reduce the weight of the schoolbag, as well as the knowledge of the teacher, who will make sure that the children sit upright during the lessons. ). Parents may notice that something is wrong (when the child slumps or walks as if it has swallowed a stick), but only a doctor can make a diagnosis. The assessment is based on the so-called symmetry test, during which the doctor compares (positioning the child sideways, back, forward and inclined) whether the same points of the body on both sides are symmetrically located. Defects detected in time can be corrected by rehabilitation.
monthly "Zdrowie"