Adolescent Disease Prevention

Teenage years can be a time for much experimentation and can be a hard time for many. This can be made all the more difficult when faced with issues such as violence, suicide, depression, teen pregnancy, injuries, school failure and other troubles. Teens may also question many values as well as experimenting with activities that could potentially damage their health. These may even have long-term consequences, so it is important to develop cognitive abilities that will promote well-being and a healthy lifestyle.

Disease prevention in teens will include a healthy diet, regular exercise, health screening and preventing any injuries.

Health Checkups

Annual checkups are a good idea for teens who will be able to learn about healthy lifestyle choices such as exercise and diet. This may also include screening sexually active teanagers for any sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and for HIV.

During these checkups health workers will discover whether teens have any problems such as any kind of emotional or physical abuse. They should also try to determine whether the teen is depressed or at risk of suicide or even if they have eating disorders such as obesity, bulimia or anorexia nervosa.

Health checkups are a good time for teens to learn about alcohol, smoking and drug abuse as well as getting help for any learning disorders including dyslexia, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. On top of this general screening will determine whether there are any health conditions, a high blood pressure, cholesterol or any risk factors for the future.

Immunizations

There are certain immunizations recommended, which include a trivalent Tdap vaccine booster at 11-12 years, as well as a second dose of MMR around this time (unless the teen is pregnant). At this time teens should also receive a booster Varivax vaccination if they have not earlier received one.

Hepatitis A vaccinations should be given to teens living in communities with high rates of the virus, travelling to countries with high rates or are drug users, have liver disease or are males who have sex with males. All teens ages 11-12 should also receive a meningococcal vaccine, and female teens will be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus which is the main cause of cervical cancer.