Ruth E. K. Stein, MD
All children experience minor illnesses and injuries while they are growing. Although most children have no ongoing consequences from these episodes, some children have more serious or recurrent impairments or disruptions of their health with which they live for prolonged periods. These conditions, and the children who have them, have been given many names over the past decades. Some authorities have referred to them as having chronic illness, but some of these children are not ill. Other authors have referred to them as having disabilities or handicaps, but many children do not exhibit these features. The term in vogue most recently has been to refer to these children as having special health care needs. Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) was a term originally coined as a euphemism for the other terms.[1] More recently the term CSHCN has been defined to include children who are not currently having any condition or impairment but who are at risk for them, such as foster children.[2] Because no agreement exists on which children to include in the at-risk category, they are referred to in this chapter as children with ongoing or chronic conditions, though many others refer to them as CSHCN and count only those with identified impairments or service needs.
Chapter 64: Children With Ongoing Health Conditions has been found in AAP Textbook of Pediatric Care
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