CDC Releases Adolescent Health Chartbook

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released an adolescent health chartbook as part of its Health, United States, 2000 report. The chartbook documents health risks faced by children and adolescents ages 10 to 19 and points out areas where gaps in the data exist. It contains sections on population characteristics, health status, reproductive health, risk behaviors, and health care access, and it focuses on current measures to reduce health risks. Noting that the health risks adolescents face increase as they get older, a related press release states that older adolescents are more likely than preteens to die from a motor vehicle accident or firearm injury; to visit a hospital emergency department with an illness or injury; and to smoke, binge drink, or use marijuana.

The CDC Health, United States, 2000 report also states that there are many gaps in data on adolescent health and that analyzing existing data can be challenging. For instance, adolescents are often not considered as a separate group, and data are rarely organized by single years of age. The chartbook addresses this issue by presenting data by single year of age whenever possible.

The CDC report asserts that other obstacles include lack of information on racial and ethnic minority groups (e.g., adolescents who are not white or black may be characterized as "other") and lack of information on socioeconomic status. It notes that educational attainment is often used to measure socioeconomic status, but that this may not be a useful measure for children and adolescents who have not yet completed their education.

The chartbook states that data are unavailable on some important measures of preventive care, such as the percentage of adolescents who are up to date on all their vaccinations. It points out the following research challenges:

• Adolescents have unique health care needs, and to meet these, routine health services must be made available in a wide range of settings. However, information about the health services sought by and provided for adolescents is limited.
• Female adolescents are sensitive about their bodies and may develop eating disorders. The prevalence of eating disorders is difficult to measure, however, because of the denial and secretive behavior associated with them.
• Although adolescents' participation in sexual activity is well documented, the extent to which such activity is consensual has not been fully evaluated. Because many myths concerning rape persist among adolescents, acquaintance rape and date rape are often unreported.

MacKay AP, Fingergut LA, Duran CR. 2000. Health, United States, 2000: Adolescent Health Chartbook. Hyattsville, MD: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. The report can be downloaded in full or by section at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hus/00figidx.htm.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. CDC releases new report on US health statistics. 2000, July 26. Press release. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/releases/00news/00news/hus00.htm.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Health, United States, 2000: With Adolescent Health Chartbook. (Chartbook description.) 2000, July 26. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hus/00huschtdes.htm.

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MCH Alert. 2001. Arlington, VA: National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health. http://www.ncemch.org/alert.