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It's Never Too Early

Jody W. Zylke, MD; Catherine D. DeAngelis, MD, MPH

JAMA. 2009;301(21):2270-2271.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Health promotion and disease prevention are as integral to childhood as play. They start in utero, when a mother takes prenatal vitamins or refrains from drinking alcohol or smoking; continue after a child is born when a mother breastfeeds; and are addressed daily, when parents make sure a child snacks on fruit instead of junk food or plays outside rather than watches television. Parents are guided in their efforts by their child's clinicians, a major portion of whose practices are devoted to health promotion and disease prevention, such as administering immunizations or recommending car seats and bicycle helmets. Many of these interventions are very cost-effective.

But despite the pervasiveness and importance of health promotion and disease prevention, research in these areas often takes a backseat to flashier studies on the newest drug or surgical intervention. This issue of JAMA focuses attention . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: Dr Zylke (jody.zylke@jama-archives.org) is Contributing Editor and Dr DeAngelis is Editor in Chief, JAMA.

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