Child and Adolescent Health

William N. Marshall & Sydney Rice

The 20th century saw important and dramatic progress in child and adolescent health. With the recognition of child health as a distinct field and the development of pediatrics as a specialty of medicine, infections have been successfully treated and prevented, congenital anomalies have been classified and ameliorated, and newborn care has markedly increased the number of successful outcomes for premature or ill infants. Child development and behavioral studies have allowed for innovations in injury prevention, more effective parenting, and therapy of mental health issues for the young. This entry reviews assessment of child and adolescent health with special emphasis on prevention and discusses the roles of developmental disabilities, injury, and chronic diseases in child health. Routine, periodic health supervision visits are the cornerstone of preventive care for infants and children among pediatric health care workers worldwide. In the past 50 years, developed nations have successfully implemented population-wide newborn laboratory screening ...

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