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4198.0: Tuesday, November 9, 2004: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM | |||
Oral | |||
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As our knowledge about the etiology of disease progresses, the evidence for environmental contributions to disease grows. This session is meant to focus on some of the environmentally related diseases that specifially effect children. The diseases that we intend to focus on are obesity, learning disabilities, and childhood cancers. The percent of children who are overweight (defined as BMI-for-age at or above the 95th percentile of the CDC Growth Charts) has been increasing drastically in the last two decades. Among children and teens ages 6-19, 15 percent (almost 9 million) are overweight according to the 1999-2000 data, or triple what the proportion was in 1980. In addition, over 10 percent of younger preschool children between ages 2 and 5 are overweight, up from 7 percent in 1994. Learning disabilities are also a growing issue. Researchers are looking into environmental toxins that may lead to learning disabilities, possibly by disrupting childhood brain development or brain processes. Cadmium and lead, both prevalent in the environment, are becoming a leading focus of neurological research. Cadmium, used in making some steel products, can get into the soil, then into the foods we eat. Lead was once common in paint and gasoline, and is still present in some water pipes. Finally this session will look at childhood cancer. The overall childhood cancer incidence rate has increased about 13 percent since 1973, according to the National Cancer Institute. But during the same period, some childhood cancer rates have risen much faster: Childhood NHL has increased 30 percent. Childhood brain cancer has increased 21 percent. And acute lymphocytic leukemia in children has increased 21 percent. | |||
Learning Objectives: Elucidate and raise awareness of health care providers and public health professionals about the increased evidence suggesting linkages between environmental factors and chroinc disease Develop a set of policy a criteria that are critical in mitigating the burden of environmental illness | |||
Michelle Chuk, MPH Nsedu Obot, MPH Sacoby M. Wilson, MS Shobha Srinivasan, PHD Daneen Farrow-Collier Kimberly Gray, PhD | |||
Michelle Chuk, MPH | |||
An introduction to linkages between health and environmental exposure: An overview Susan West Marmagas, MPH | |||
Newly emerging understanding of the linkages between environmental exposure and childhood obesity Katherine Shea, MD, MPH, FAACP | |||
Exploring the associations between environmental exposures and learning disabilities in children Elise Miller, MEd | |||
Understanding the potential likages between environmental exposure and Autism Spectrum Disorders George Lambert, MD | |||
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information. | |||
Organized by: | Environment | ||
Endorsed by: | Community Health Planning and Policy Development; Maternal and Child Health; School Health Education and Services | ||
CE Credits: | CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing |