Hearing and Vision, Plus Other Ailments on the Rise in Children
A combination of specialized prescription drugs, heavily processed foods, and limited nutritional resources is causing an epidemic of chronic health problems in children. The Boston study makes a bold, negative statement about the health of American children: It deducts that about half of all children in the U.S. will exhibit some chronic ailment at some point during their childhood.
Chronic conditions have been grouped into four categories: asthma, obesity, behavior/learning problems and "other". The latter is a group that includes speech impairments, hearing and vision problems, allergic conditions, heart trouble and respiratory disorders other than asthma. Hearing and vision can cause major problems in the learning and developmental stages, therefore as a priority, it sits number one.
Researchers did not study the reasons for the increases, they suggested additional factors such as an increased reporting sample due to advanced screenings, obesity on the rise, premature baby survival, as well as others better vision and hearing screening and diagnosis that led to more reporting of chronic conditions; the rise in childhood obesity, which can lead to other problems; and the increasing survival of premature babies and children with cancer and other diseases, who are more likely to have same problems in the long run.