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Adolescent health

British Medical Association
Board of Science and Education
December 2003

This report focuses on the problems facing adolescents and examines the evidence surrounding adolescent health, behaviour and interventions.

It reviews four important areas in adolescent health: nutrition, exercise and obesity; smoking, drinking and drug use; mental health; and sexual health.

 For each area this report discusses the prevalence of the problems involved, examines which adolescents are affected, describes the interventions used to address the issues and evaluates the effectiveness of these strategies.

This report is intended to raise the profile of adolescent health and to help inform future policy. In addition, this report acts as an information resource for healthcare professionals, providing an overview of adolescent health issues and the policy environment.

The Board of Science and Education, a standing committee of the British Medical Association (BMA), provides an interface between the medical profession, the government and the public.

One major aim of the Board is to contribute to the improvement of public health. It has developed policies on a wide range of issues such as alcohol, smoking and eating disorders, and specific groups such as children and the elderly.

The Board’s work on public health has resulted in a number of publications including School sex education: good practice and policy (1997), The misuse of drugs (1997), Alcohol and young people (1999), Growing up in Britain: ensuring a healthy future for our children (1999), Eating disorders, body image and the media (2000) and Sexually transmitted infections (2002).

Sir David Carter
Chairman, Board of Science and Education
December 2003

Editorial board
A publication from the BMA science and education department and the board of science and education

Chairman, board of science and education	Professor Sir David Carter
Director of professional activities	Dr Vivienne Nathanson
Head of science and education	Dr Caroline Seddon
Project manager	Nicky Jayesinghe
Research and writing	Fleur Conn
Editorial secretariat	Dalia Ben-Galim
	Hilary Forrester
	Elaine Martyn
	Angela Sharpe

Board of Science and Education
This report was produced under the auspices of the Board of Science and Education of the British Medical Association, whose membership for 2002/2003 was as follows:

President, BMA	Professor Sir Brian Jarman
Chairman, BMA representative body	Dr George Rae
Chairman, BMA council	Mr James Johnson
Treasurer, BMA	Dr David Pickersgill
Chairman, board of science and education	Professor Sir David Carter
Dr P H Dangerfield
Dr A Elsharkawy
Dr G D Lewis
Professor S Lingam
Dr P Maguire
Dr S J Nelson
Dr S J Richards
Dr D M B Ward
Dr C Smith
Dr L Smith
Dr N D L Olsen (Deputy)

Approval for publication as a BMA report was recommended by BMA Board of Professional Activities on 24 September 2003.

Acknowledgements
The association is very grateful for the help provided by the BMA committees and outside experts and would particularly like to thank Dr Helen Sweeting (MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow) and Dr Russell Viner (Senior Lecturer, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and Institute of Child Health, London).

Adolescent health is available from:
BMA science and education department
British Medical Association
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London WC1H 9JP
email: info.science@bma.org.uk