BMJ 1995;311:1500 (2 December)

Letters

Primary health care and adolescence

EDITOR,--In their editorial Aidan Macfarlane and Ann McPherson highlight the importance of adolescents' wants and needs for primary care services.1 They place little emphasis on the contribution of emotional and behavioural disorders to adolescent morbidity and mortality, though there are indications that these are highly relevant. For example, in the authors' own study of 14-16 year olds, which they cite, as many as 8% of adolescents reported feeling fed up or depressed every day and a further 28% at least once a week. In Epstein et al's study of teenage health concerns which Macfarlane and McPherson cite, four of the 10 issues that caused most concern (overweight, arguments with parents, fear of cancer, and worry about own death) may be linked to or reflect emotional disorder. Three per cent of presentations to general practitioners by adolescents (aged 13-16) are of emotional or behavioural complaints (TK, unpublished findings). Psychiatric disorders are . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Primary health care and adolescence
Aidan Macfarlane and Ann McPherson
BMJ 1995 311: 825-826. [Extract] [Full Text]

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