Nearly One in Three Teens Reports
Chronic Condition: StatsCan Survey

Chris Siems enjoyed playing sports as much as the next person until tendinitis in his knees forced him into a more sedentary lifestyle.

"I was always lazy, but now I'm even more lazy," he half-jokingly remarks of the affliction that has him seeing a physiotherapist. Although a bum knee is common enough among middle-aged athletes, Siems has been sidelined at the tender age of 15.

The Toronto-area teen is not alone. Nearly one in three Canadian adolescents reports having at least one chronic condition that keeps them from feeling healthy, according to a Statistics Canada survey released.

The survey of more than 12,700 teens across the country found that 29 per cent of those aged 12 to 17 reported having chronic ailments, most commonly asthma, bronchitis, back pain or migraine headaches. For girls 15 to 17 that figure rose to 36 per cent.

The results of the 2000/2001 Canadian Community Health Survey were based solely on perceptions that teens hold regarding their health and were not verified by medical professionals.

Mental health was found to be the greatest divide between boys and girls, with two per cent of boys aged 15 to 17 indicating they had suffered a major depression in the previous year compared with 11 per cent of girls.

The study linked depression with reduced odds that teens would report very good or excellent health.

Sedentary lifestyles also figured in health perceptions, with 17 per cent of boys and 26 per cent of girls in the 12-14 demographic reporting inactivity during leisure time. Older teens fared worse, with 21 per cent of boys and 36 per cent of girls claiming sedentary habits.

Also in the older age group, 14 per cent of teens admitted to being daily smokers, with girls slightly more likely than boys to smoke every day.

"I smoke cigarettes but I feel healthy," says Angela Morano, 15, of Toronto.

She credits boxing lessons and a fast metabolism for helping keep the pounds off despite a steady diet of fast food.

Her friend Fallon Manchin isn't as lucky.

"I don't eat healthy and it's bad for me because I gain weight," says the 15-year-old.

But regardless of weight, isn't Morano worried about how her lungs, heart and arteries are doing?

"I'm going through my young teenage stage, so obviously I'm not going to concentrate on what I'm eating right now, not yet," she says.

"It's still unhealthy, but at this young age it's not something that I'd worry about."

But adolescence is precisely the time to take one's health seriously, according to Dr. Brian McCrindle, who heads the children's cholesterol clinic at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

"Children's' health is seriously being affected by their lifestyle," says McCrindle.

Although the Statistics Canada survey suggests only four per cent of teens can be considered obese, McCrindle says his research indicates at least one in three kids are overweight.

"That's translating right now into an epidemic of obesity," he said.

"If nobody does anything about it, it's going to translate into a huge epidemic of young adults who are having heart attacks and strokes."

Dr. Beth Abramson of the Heart and Stroke Foundation says the trend can be reversed.

"Some small changes in the pattern of diet or exercise, in even a very busy day, can make all the difference," she says.

"I think teens need to understand that if you were to super-size your fries all you're doing is getting fat for free."

It's an understanding apparently lacking among adolescents, with 10 per cent of kids admitting they eat less than two fruits and vegetables a day.

Abramson says it's essential to redirect teens' perceptions of what is healthy.

"When you see a fashion model who is very thin, who may be smoking and not exercising, that's the wrong message," she said.

"We want our youth to be not smoking, to be physically active, to be eating heart-healthy food and to not be very overweight."

McCrindle advises his patients to exercise, avoid processed foods, and control portion sizes at meal time.

Article by Greg Bonnell
Reference Source 114

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