Table 3.

Effect of adolescence on chronic illness

• The developmental changes of adolescence will reciprocally affect chronic illness and its management

• Smoking can exacerbate health outcomes in young people with asthma, cystic fibrosis, and diabetes

• Alcohol and dance parties can complicate diabetes care

• Exhaustion from late night parties can lead to unstable epilepsy

• For physiological reasons certain diseases can become more unstable during adolescence (the hormonal changes of the pubertal growth spurt decrease insulin sensitivity and make diabetes more difficult to control; lung function often deteriorates during adolescence in those with cystic fibrosis, especially girls)