
Understanding Chronic Illness In Children
For some children, chronic health conditions affect everyday life throughout childhood. A chronic condition is defined as a health problem that lasts over three months, affects your child’s normal activities, and requires extensive medical care.
Asthma
Most children with asthma have symptoms before they turn 5. In very young children, it may be hard for parents, and even doctors, to recognise that the symptoms are due to asthma.
Heart Disease
There are many different types of heart problems that can affect children, from congenital heart defects to viral infections and heart disease acquired later in childhood due to illnesses or genetic syndromes.
Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes in children: 90 to 95 per cent of under 16s with diabetes have this type. It is caused by the inability of the pancreas to produce the hormone insulin.
Paediatric Kidney Disease
Kidney disease often goes undetected in the general population, but children and adolescents are at an even greater risk due to the nature and causes of the disease and the ambiguity of the symptoms.
Sickle Cell Disease
Usually, red blood cells (RBCs) are shaped like round discs. People who have sickle cell disease, though, have RBCs that are shaped like sickles, or crescent moons. This defect can cause painful episodes, serious infections, chronic anaemia, and d...
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a condition in which a person has a tendency to have recurring seizures. Children with epilepsy can still attend pre-school, school and sports, but the risks must be managed. Epilepsy may affect learning and behaviour in some children.
Helping Children Cope With Chronic Illness
The chronically ill child has some sense of illness severity, even without medical explanation. He or she receives clues through his or her knowledge of illness, the urgency of treatment, contact with other patients, and the responses of family an...