Child & adolescent health

Group Health Center for Health Studies (CHS) researchers from a variety of disciplines work together to find ways to prevent and treat illness in children. Studies span infancy to adolescence, with investigators discovering ways to boost parenting skills, enhance safety, and improve care for chronic conditions such as asthma, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Patient safety is a big concern because most research in medicine and health care focuses only on adults. "Children are not just miniature adults; their preventive needs are often quite different from those of adults," says David C. Grossman, MD, MPH, senior investigator at Group Health Center for Health Studies and medical director of preventive care at Group Health. "We are also beginning to appreciate how child and adolescent health behavior can be associated with later adult disease and injury. Research into how to modify behavior at much earlier ages may lead to important interventions that start with early childhood and adolescence."

Because a relatively high proportion of American children live in poverty, the CHS investigators are also exploring ways to improve health care for disadvantaged youngsters. CHS associate investigator Paula Lozano, MD, MPH, developed a way of measuring the cultural competence of different practice sites, including the diversity of the staff—from the receptionists to the physicians—and their ability to communicate clearly with various ethnic groups. The higher a site's cultural competence, the investigators have found, the more fully the health needs of the low-income children are met.

Finding ways to accurately estimate the health needs of children in a given population is another important area of inquiry. "Without good pediatric models for estimating relative disease severity among children, health care systems may underestimate demand," explains economist Paul Fishman, PhD, associate investigator at CHS. "The result can be reduced reimbursement and inadequate health care for chronically ill children."

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Researchers in child & adolescent health

CHS

Affiliate researchers

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Recent publications on child & adolescent health

2008

Richardson LP, Russo JE, Lozano P, McCauley E, Katon W. The effect of comorbid anxiety and depressive disorders on health care utilization and costs among adolescents with asthma. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2008;30(5):398-406. Epub 2008 Aug 3. PubMed

Katon W, Russo J, Richardson L, McCauley E, Lozano P. Anxiety and depression screening for youth in a primary care population. Ambul Pediatr. 2008;8(3):182-8. Epub 2008 Apr 11. PubMed

Bonomi AE, Anderson ML, Rivara FP, Cannon EA, Fishman PA, Carrell D, Reid RJ, Thompson RS. Health care utilization and costs associated with childhood abuse. J Gen Intern Med. 2008;23(3):294-9. Epub 2008 Jan 19. PubMed

Rivara FP, Anderson ML, Fishman P, Bonomi AE, Reid RJ, Carrell D, Thompson RS. Intimate partner violence and health care costs and utilization for children living in the home. Pediatrics. 2007;120(6):1270-7. PubMed

Arterburn DE. Obesity in children. BMJ Clinical Evidence (online). 2007; 05:325. www.clinicalevidence.com

Katon W, Lozano P, Russo J, McCauley E, Richardson L, Bush T. The prevalence of DSM-IV anxiety and depressive disorders in youth with asthma compared with controls. J Adolesc Health. 2007;41(5):455-63. Epub 2007 Sep 4. PubMed

Andrade SE, Raebel MA, Brown J, Lane K, Livingston J, Boudreau D, Rolnick SJ, Roblin D, Smith DH, Willy ME, Staffa JA, Platt R. Use of antidepressant medications during pregnancy: a multisite study. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2008;198(2):194.e1-5. Epub 2007 Oct 1. PubMed

2007

Thompson WW, Price C, Goodson B, Shay DK, Benson P, Hinrichsen VL, Lewis E, Eriksen E, Ray P, Marcy SM, Dunn J, Jackson LA, Lieu TA, Black S, Stewart G, Weintraub ES, Davis RL, DeStefano F. Early thimerosal exposure and neuropsychological outcomes at 7 to 10 years. N Engl J Med. 2007;357(13):1281-92. PubMed

LeResche L, Mancl LA, Drangsholt MT, Huang G, Von Korff M. Predictors of onset of facial pain and temporomandibular disorders in early adolescence. Pain. 2007;129(3):269-78. Epub 2006 Nov 28. PubMed

Bush T, Richardson L, Katon W, Russo J, Lozano P, McCauley E, Oliver M. Anxiety and depressive disorders are associated with smoking in adolescents with asthma. J Adolesc Health. 2007;40(5):425-32. Epub 2007 Feb 15. PubMed

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