Work Is Risky Business for Teens
Aug. 30, 2006 <p> -- TEENS OFTEN INJURED ON THE JOB A study of 6,810 Wisconsin teens -- around half of whom held a job -- finds that 514 of them reported injuries while working, and that 29 percent of these injuries were severe. Severe injuries included anything that kept teens from their normal activities for more than three days, such as broken bones, cuts bad enough to need stitches, and serious burns. The researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center suggested that perhaps teens didn't get enough training on safety when they began working, which led to high rates of injury. Published in the American Journal of Health Behavior, the study also found a number of teens working long hours. More than 33 percent of Wisconsin teens put in hours equal to an adult part-time job.
CLUES TO TREATMENT OF BIRD FLU A review of medical literature published during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic suggests that transfusions from people who survived the flu may have helped others who became sick. Navy researchers combed old publications to determine what strategies might have been effective for fighting the last pandemic flu. They believe that transfusions from someone who successfully survived the flu virus may be a viable way to treat victims of the current circulating H5N1 bird flu. This research was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
MORE AMERICANS LACK HEALTH INSURANCE The U.S. Census Bureau announced Tuesday that the number of Americans without health insurance had increased by 1.3 million over the last year, from 45.3 million in 2004 to 46.6 million in 2005. Since 2000, the number of people lacking health insurance has increased by 7 million. Nearly all the increase was in working adults age 18 to 64, the report finds. About half of middle-income families making between $35,000 and $50,000 reported serious problems paying for health care and health insurance. In other related findings, median income in the United States increased by 1.1 percent, and the poverty rate remained unchanged at 12.6 percent.
STAT is a brief look at the latest medical research and is compiled by Joanna Schaffhausen, who holds a doctorate in behavioral neuroscience. She works in the ABC News Medical Unit, evaluating medical studies, abstracts and news releases.
