A midcourse review of the healthy people 2010: 21 critical health objectives for adolescents and young adults.

As part of Healthy People 2010, a national consensus panel identified 21 Healthy People 2010 objectives as critical to adolescent and young adult health. These objectives span six areas: mortality, unintentional injury, violence, mental health and substance use, reproductive health, and the prevention of chronic disease during adulthood. Progress on these objectives was reviewed as part of the Healthy People 2010 Midcourse Review. The review found little or no improvement on most objectives. Expert recommendations call for broad, population-based efforts to improve adolescent health. However, changes in health policy are largely issue-based and occur incrementally.