Rise in Child Chronic Illness Could Swamp Health Care

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In their journal study, the researchers at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center found that non-Hispanic white children are more likely to develop type 1 diabetes than minority children. On the other hand, type 2 disease is much more likely to appear in black or Hispanic 15- to 19-year-olds than in white teens.

Asthma, too, is affecting more and more children, and childhoods spent largely indoors may be to blame here, as well, said Perrin, who is also a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

While allergies to cockroaches and dust mites have long been linked to soaring asthma rates among America's urban poor, studies have shown no concurrent rise in the rate of household infestations over the past decades, he pointed out.

"However, we do know that kids now spend much more time indoors [than they used to] in intimate contact with cockroaches and dust mites," Perrin said.

Even the good news on childhood illness comes mixed with a little bad news. Dutch researchers note that more and more children are claiming victory over a wide variety of cancers. However, the study also suggests that battling cancer in childhood boosts risks for adult illnesses.

The study of almost 1,400 five-year survivors of childhood cancer tracked these young people to an average of just over 24 years of age. Three-quarters of these survivors experienced some form of adverse medical event in young adulthood, and one-quarter suffered five or more such events, the researchers found. More than one-third (36.8 percent) developed a life-threatening or disabling disorder years after beating their cancer, the researchers found.

Study author Dr. Huib Caron, of Emma Children's Hospital/Academic Medical Center, in Amsterdam, strongly supports the creation of specialized follow-up clinics that could monitor childhood cancer survivors into adulthood.

These clinics are essential because "the majority of adult medicine physicians haven't got the faintest clue about the health risks that this population is running -- they haven't got the expertise," Caron said. And many problems, such as cardiac troubles, are asymptomatic and would only show up on doctor-ordered ultrasounds or other tests, he said.