O impacto da transição demográfico-epidemiológica na saúde da criança e do adolescente do Brasil
In plain language
Why changing childhood health needs a life-course approach
As Brazil’s population and patterns of illness changed, pediatrics faced a broader task than treating acute disease. This 2012 article examines what falling mortality, changing birth rates and a growing burden of chronic conditions meant for the care of children and adolescents.
A transition in the work of health care. The authors discuss how reductions in infectious illness and improvements in survival changed the kinds of needs encountered by health services. National mortality data and hospital-admission data illustrate shifts in the relative burden of disease. These were not uniform improvements: new patterns developed within persistent social inequalities.
The article considers the consequences for clinical care, research and professional education. Chronic conditions require continuity, coordination and attention to the child’s development over time. Prevention also has to consider influences whose consequences may become visible much later, including the early social and biological conditions discussed in developmental origins research.
Child health and adult health become connected questions. If early development contributes to future chronic disease, pediatric care is relevant to a person’s eventual adult health as well as their immediate survival and symptoms. This perspective changes the time horizon for evaluating prevention and for training health professionals.
The paper is a critical analysis of an evolving health system, supported by demographic and epidemiological evidence. It does not test a new service model or report a randomized intervention. Its contribution is to identify why changing patterns of disease call for changes in how care is organized and how the next generation of health professionals understands development, inequality and long-term risk. The statistics describe the period examined in 2012 and should not be read as a current snapshot of Brazil.
Original abstract
Abstract available at the source. Abstract reproduction permission for this use has not been confirmed. Consult the original publication.
Goldani MZ, Mosca PRF, Portela AK, Silveira PP, da Silva CH. O impacto da transição demográfico-epidemiológica na saúde da criança e do adolescente do Brasil. Clinical & Biomedical Research. 2012;32(1).
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