HHS HealthBeat (November 14, 2008)

Violent sickness

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Violence may make kids sick. A study finds teens who had more violence in their lives were more likely to rate their health as fair or poor.

Renee Boynton-Jarrett of Boston University School of Medicine looked at survey data on what teens reported, from being worried about their safety to being a victim of violent crime. The survey also asked about how they rated their health over time.

``The more social stressors you were exposed to, the greater your risk was to have poor self-rated health.’’ (6 seconds)

Boynton-Jarrett found that with each additional violence exposure, the risk for rating health as poor increased by 38 percent. The risk for poor health kept rising with additional violence exposures, suggesting the impact of violence added up.

The study in the journal Pediatrics was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: November, 14 2008