SAHM Position & Statement Papers
Preventing and treating adolescent obesity: A position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine
The high prevalence of obesity in adolescence is a serious public health concern. Longitudinal studies confirm that health consequences of obesity during adolescence track into adulthood, but that these consequences are reduced by successfully decreasing body fat among obese adolescents.Adolescent immunizations: A position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine
New vaccines are being targeted to help protect the adolescent population from disease. The Society for Adolescent Medicine strongly urges compliance with adolescent vaccination recommendations provided by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. These vaccines will significantly impact the health and well-being of the adolescent population. To enhance vaccination compliance and access to prevention health care and promotion, the Society supports linking vaccination to the three distinct comprehensive preventive health care visits already recommended by multiple organizations during early, middle, and late adolescence.Suicidality in adolescents being treated with antidepressant medications and the black box label: Position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine
Recent attention has focused on the use of antidepressant medications in the treatment of depression in children and adolescents. The United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required manufacturers to include a “black box” warning label on antidepressants that alerts health care providers and consumers to an increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children and adolescents being treated with these medications (FDA Public Health Advisory: Suicidality in Children and Adolescents Being Treated with Antidepressant Medications.Protecting adolescents: Ensuring access to care and reporting sexual activity and abuse: Position paper of the American Academy of Family Physicians, The American Academy of Pediatrics, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and The Society for Adolescent Medicine
As physicians and other health care professionals, we have an ethical obligation to provide the best possible care for our adolescent patients. A key tenet for all health professionals is to ensure that adolescents have access to the health services they need, including sexual and reproductive health services. A medical evaluation that addresses sexual and reproductive health includes a careful assessment for abusive or unwanted sexual encounters and the reporting of such cases to the proper authorities.Executing juvenile offenders: A fundamental failure of society: Position paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine
The Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have the protection of the health and well-being of adolescents as a primary goal. With this joint policy statement, SAM and AAP express our strong opposition to the juvenile death penalty and call upon the United States Supreme Court, the federal government, and states to abolish the practice of executing juvenile offenders.
