THURSDAY, July 22, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Doctors have found that if they ask the right questions, children as young as 6 can adequately understand and accurately report on their own health.
A review of published research on child report questionnaires found plenty of evidence that children can communicate about their health.
Doctors at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who conducted the review also developed questionnaires that physicians can use to seek health information from children aged 6 to 11.
The report appears in the July/August issue of Ambulatory Pediatrics.
"Children can tell us how they feel in a way that no one else can, and their future health is influenced by their early experiences," lead researcher Dr. Anne Riley said in a statement. "It is worth the trouble to ask children about their health before their habits and risk behaviors become established."
More information
The American Academy of Pediatrics has more about pediatric health.
