Healthy Kids...Healthy Adults
I skimmed over this article about an increase in whooping cough in Midland and didn't attribute any special significance to it. After all, even though pertussis has become relatively rare, the phenomenon of increased communicable infections around the time school restarts each year is not a new one. The classroom is a veritable bacterial frappé (to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld). Then I read this article in the Wall Street Journal, and noted an eerie coincidence that the two would appear on the same day.
The WSJ story reports on some research showing a direct link between infant and childhood infections and serious illness later in adulthood. Here's an excerpt (insertions in square brackets are mine)...
Coincidence? Dr. Finch thinks not. Instead, he suspects that lower infant mortality reflects, in large part, a lower incidence in that cohort of sometimes-fatal childhood infectious disease, from TB and cholera to measles and plain old strep.
Children lucky enough to live when infections were few -- and more of them reached adulthood -- also hit a second jackpot, Dr. Finch argues. Infectious disease also causes inflammation. That leaves "inflammatory molecules," with names such as C-reactive protein, scooting around the bloodstream. Recent studies show the risk of heart disease, cancer and other killers is higher in people with high blood levels of inflammatory proteins.
In one fascinating historical study, U.S. Civil War veterans who had infectious disease as young men were more likely to have heart disease after age 50. Even frequent diarrhea during infancy, a sign of infection, is linked to cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Overall, Americans now in their 50s are 15% more likely to have cardiovascular disease, and twice as likely to have cancer, if they had a serious infectious disease in childhood. It isn't clear whether even something as common as ear infections leave such a legacy, Dr. Finch says, but all infections trigger antibodies, and levels of inflammatory proteins reflect how many different antibodies are swimming around the bloodstream.
This is, indeed, fascinating research that transcends the theoretical and puts a new perspective on the perennial issue of whether the state-required childhood immunizations are a good thing or a bad thing. I've heard some parents argue that the risks of the immunizations themselves are greater than the potential benefit. I wonder if those parents would re-think that perception in light of this ongoing research.
It should also be a wake-up call to those of us who experienced some fairly serious childhood infections (in my case, at age 9, mumps that led to a bout of encephalitis). Even if all other factors indicate low risks for certain diseases, perhaps it's wise to err on the side of caution in terms of annual check-ups and other preventative measures.
It'll be interesting to see in another decade or two how home-schooled children fare against their, ah, communally-schooled peers. I mean from a medical perspective, of course. Home-schoolers already surpass their peers academically and even socially.
I've noticed an increasing number of lice products being sold as "kid friendly". Even more distressingly, such products are being sold in supermarkets and even small grocery stores. The times when de-lousing combs and shampoos were exclusively pharmacy items are long gone.
Classrooms are becoming more and more unhealthy for children whose parents can't afford home-schooling as an option.
When I was growing up, "cooties" were on par with leprosy in our minds. Kids who had them became social outcasts with a reputation that followed them around for years.
Apparently, epidemics of lice are fairly common now.
Posted by: Mr. Freen at September 20, 2004 12:25 PMMr. Freen, I hadn't thought about that aspect of the situation. It bears watching.
I have noticed that, around here anyway, home schooled kids are brought together more frequently and regularly for social activities, sports, etc. That might offset some of the health advantages, but perhaps not significantly.
I, too, remember when the occurence of lice was a ticket straight to pariah-hood. As has been noted elsewhere on many similar topics, we live in an age of diminished expectations.
Posted by: Eric at September 20, 2004 12:47 PMIt would be interesting to find out if the resultant biological effects of childhood immunizations could cause the same or similar results on future health as this study suggests. Isn't some of the action of immunizations supposed to cause the body to create antibodies such as the ones the child would develop from having suffered from the illness? Fascinating thoughts. (All my children received their scheduled immunizations just as I did. I've even had more from my international travels. I wonder what future health issues I may face that I might not have had I not gotten so many?)
Posted by: jasmine at September 20, 2004 09:58 PMGood questions, Jasmine. Let us know what you find out! ;-)
Seriously, though, it would be interesting to know if the cumulative effect of all those immunizations might contribute to this sort of problem, even though a single immunization wouldn't (shouldn't?) be significant.
Nothing's simple anymore.
Posted by: Eric at September 21, 2004 10:21 PMAbout the publisher
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That is a very good observation. As for the immunizations, the only reason my kids have gone thru them is because the schools and the wife required them.
Now that I think about it, most of my family members, who seem to be rather healthy, do seem to live a much longer life than say my grandfather, who was ill most of the time I knew him and died at the age of 62. Grandma, on the other hand, was healthy as a horse, lived to be 86.
Posted by: shannon at September 20, 2004 08:54 AM