(BPT) – Parents of infants and young children regularly visit the pediatrician’s office for their child’s checkups. These visits offer an opportunity to learn about keeping your child healthy and to ensure he/she is up-to-date on vaccines. However, when a child reaches the teen years, these annual checkups may fall off the radar. A recent survey, fielded by Harris Interactive, and commissioned by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), in collaboration with and with support from Pfizer Inc, found that while 85 percent of parents polled say an annual checkup is very important for those zero to five years, only 61 percent believe the same is true for teens. Teens have a unique set of healthcare needs.-Annual checkups can be an important opportunity for healthcare providers to identify key health issues and for adolescents to begin to independently make decisions regarding their health. “Annual visits offer teens an opportunity to develop a one-on-one relationship with their physician and to begin to take responsibility for their own health,” said Susan J. Rehm, MD, NFID medical director. “It is particularly concerning for teens to be missing out on annual checkups because adolescence is a crucial period in life and it’s important Read More