Youngsters face new health risks

DUBAI // Action is needed to help young people in the UAE avoid new health risks, which were highlighted in a global study into their well-being that took into account data over a 23-year period, experts said.

The Lancet medical journal analysis of adolescent health and well-being used figures from the Global Burden of Disease study with data from 1990 to 2013 to compile the report.

A global upward trend in drug and alcohol use among young people was reflected in the UAE, while other concerns in the Emirates centre on an increase in self-harm and mental health disorders.

As in 1990, road injuries, heart disease and congenital abnormalities remain the three most likely causes of premature death in young people in the UAE.

But in 2013, young people were 38 per cent more likely to die early as a result of self-harming than in 1990, and 179 per cent more likely to suffer premature death as a result of drug use disorders over the same period.

The trend is similar in the US, with adolescent health risks in from drug use disorders increased 425 per cent since 1990.

Lead author Dr Ali Mokdad, director of Middle Eastern Initiatives at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, said the report showed a noticeable change in adolescent behaviour. “We provide comparable estimates for all countries over time,” he said.

“We are seeing an increase in drug and alcohol use globally, not just in the Middle East but in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.

“Drug use and alcohol use tend to be something that people don’t want to talk about openly but now, with the wealth of information we have from health records and surveys, we are able to document the problem.”

Since 2000, alcohol use in the UAE has increased by 8 per cent among 15 to 19-year-olds and by 12.5 per cent for ages 20 to 24, the report shows.

Data from 2013, the latest available figures, showed 161 alcohol-related deaths among young people aged 10 to 24, and 42 as a result of drugs that year.

“Ignoring the problems will only make them worse,” said co-author of the report Dr Fadia AlBuhairan, an associate professor at the King Saud bin Abdulaziz University in Riyadh.

“This is an area that has been neglected for too long. Our young people have problems that are impacting their health and well being. If we do not ask the questions, we will not be able to offer support.”

Life coach Linda Bonnar, a former teacher in Dubai and Qatar, said education on the dangers of drugs and alcohol in schools was improving.

“I think alcohol is much more freely available to our teenagers here than drugs,” she said.

“I’m not saying drugs don’t exist but, as a teacher, I used to hear the students speaking about alcohol more often.

“Schools take every precaution to warn pupils of the dangers of alcohol and drug use, in the UAE in particular, but we can’t watch our young people all the time. The best we can do is educate them to make sensible choices.”

The study included annual assessments for 188 countries, covering 306 diseases and injuries. It found depression resulted in the largest amount of ill health worldwide in 2013, affecting more than 10 per cent of 10 to 24-year-olds.

In the UAE, self-harm ranked third in the age group 15 to 19, with 12 children losing their lives as a result in 2013.