da Fonseca Marcio A
Department of Pediatric Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
Pediatr Dent. 2012 Jan-Feb;34(1):32-8.
According to the US Census Bureau, the poverty rate for children under 18 years of age increased to 22% in 2010. Poverty leads to adverse health outcomes in children and adolescents such as harmful effects on learning, psychosocial development, physical health, productivity and family life. Because the citizens and residents of a country are its most valuable assets, it is unwise to allow housing instability, food insecurity and hunger to continue to exist at its current levels. Reducing poverty is likely to prevent illnesses, decrease hospitalizations, and lead to lower health care costs. There is also a need for intervention strategies to ensure equitable access to healthy foods across the world. Children who are food insecure are more likely to be in poor health and to have poor nutritional outcomes. Poverty may lead to poor dental health due to malnutrition or incorrect diet and it may also have an effect on the child's behavior in the dental office. An understanding of poverty will lessen the anger, frustration and prejudice that pediatric dentists may feel when working with low-income families. This manuscript presents a concise overview of the effects of poverty in children's lives.
根据美国人口普查局的数据，2010年18岁以下儿童的贫困率升至22%。贫困会给儿童和青少年带来不良健康后果，比如对学习、心理社会发展、身体健康、生产力和家庭生活产生有害影响。由于一个国家的公民和居民是其最宝贵的资产，任由住房不稳定、粮食不安全和饥饿以当前的水平持续存在是不明智的。减少贫困可能预防疾病、减少住院治疗，并降低医疗成本。还需要干预策略来确保全世界各地的人们都能公平地获取健康食品。粮食不安全的儿童更有可能健康状况不佳且营养状况较差。贫困可能由于营养不良或饮食不当导致口腔健康不良，还可能影响儿童在牙科诊所的行为表现。了解贫困将减少儿科牙医在为低收入家庭治疗时可能产生的愤怒、沮丧和偏见。本文简要概述了贫困对儿童生活的影响。
