Pediatric News

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Hib vaccine booster dose reinstated.(NEWS)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ATLANTA -- Physicians should resume giving booster vaccinations for Haemophilus influenzae type b to children aged 12-15 months at routine visits, the Centers for Disease Co . . .

CDC updates guidelines on antiviral flu Tx: addresses seasonal influenza, novel H1N1.(NEWS)
ATLANTA -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel voted to update its guidelines on antiviral treatment of influenza to include new information about antiviral resis . . .

Fate of health reform may hinge on public plan.(NEWS)
The chances of passing health reform legislation this year could depend on whether lawmakers can resolve their differences over the public insurance plan option. The decision on whether to include . . .

Data on ADHD stimulants deemed not threatening.(NEWS)
Stimulant use was significantly associated with sudden, unexplained deaths in children and adolescents in a study of more than 500 children, but the data are not sufficient to change clinical prescr . . .

Ethnicity plays role in age of autism spectrum disorder Dx.(NEWS)
BALTIMORE -- Hispanic and African American children are more likely to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder after age 3 years than are white children, based on a retrospective study of more th . . .

Landmark tobacco law gives FDA new powers.(NEWS)
Public health advocates are applauding a new law that gives the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate the sale, marketing, and ingredients in tobacco products. President . . .

MMRV is favored for second dose, not for first.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
ATLANTA -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel recommended the use of either the combination measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine or the separate MMR and varic . . .

Many ED patients positive for STIs are unaware of infection.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
BALTIMORE -- Empiric treatment for sexually transmitted infections among adolescent girls presenting to a pediatric emergency department is high, but many patients are unreachable for follow-up and . . .

Research proceeding rapidly on novel H1N1 flu: influenza A(HIN1) is a direct descendant of the 1918 flu virus.(INFECTIOUS DISEAS
Investigators have made rapid progress on several fronts in understanding the novel influenza A(H1N1) virus responsible for the current pandemic, according to a series of reports. Investigators tr . . .

ACIP votes to reduce doses of rabies vaccine from 5 to 4.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
ATLANTA -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel voted to drop the recommended number of postexposure doses of rabies vaccine from five to four, based on data sugge . . .

Intervention doubles flu vaccinations in 1 year.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
BALTIMORE -- A three-pronged intervention to increase influenza vaccination rates in high-risk pediatric patients doubled the number of patients who were vaccinated in just 1 year. Some of the les . . .

Call for school mandate to aid HPV vaccination.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
BALTIMORE -- The notion that the future burden of human papillomavirus will be greatly decreased thanks to the HPV vaccine may be unrealistic without a national school mandate, according to a new mo . . .

FDA approves fluoroquinolone for conjunctivitis.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
The Food and Drug Administration has approved an ophthalmic formulation of a fluoroquinolone antibiotic, besifloxacin, for the treatment of bacterial conjunctivitis. Besifloxacin ophthalmic suspen . . .

New viruses are an old story.(ID CONSULT)
We're seeing a lot of new viruses lately, but that's nothing new. The novel pandemic H1N1 flu is just one of many emerging viruses that we're seeing clinically, although we may not always recogniz . . .

School program improves flu vaccine coverage in Texas.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
BALTIMORE -- School-based influenza vaccination programs can improve the vaccination rate for school-aged children, but getting tweens and teens to participate can be hard, based on a study of schoo . . .

Cost-conscious care.(LETTERS FROM MAINE)
My lifestyle and preferences don't include much television viewing anymore. Certainly for the last 8 years I have completely avoided watching any presidential addresses because I found them very unc . . .

Use of ADHD drugs tied to higher test scores.(BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS)(Clinical report)
Children treated with medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder during their elementary school years score higher on standardized tests for mathematics and reading, compared with their . . .

Is it a personality disorder or just a phase?(BEHAVIORAL CONSULT)
When a child lies, shoplifts, or seems to show little remorse after a thoughtless act, families may raise the question, is this a single event or the first sign of a serious lifelong character flaw? . . .

Ethnic-specific risk factors appear to affect suicidality.(BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS)
SAN FRANCISCO -- There maybe ethnic- and sex-specific risk factors in youth suicidality that could inform the design of culturally influenced suicide prevention, a study of 648 Mexican and European . . .

Teens in cyberspace: researchers race to keep up.(BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS)
LOS ANGELES -- Today's adolescents are so immersed in technology they multitask in their cyberspace lives, texting while listening to their iPods, talking on cell phones as they scope out each other . . .

Communicating with tech-savvy teenagers.(BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS)
As today's teens text, Twitter, AIM, and blog, they're likely to run into messages from adolescent medicine specialists, who are using cybertechnology as never before to communicate directly with yo . . .

Teen primary ovarian insufficiency often missed.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)
SAN ANTONIO -- Make the diagnosis, inform the parents first, and consider full hormone replacement therapy when an adolescent girl presents with irregular menses suggestive of primary ovarian insuff . . .

Integrating genomics into medical training.(GENOMIC MEDICINE)
Patients expect that their primary care physician will be able to advise them on genomic topics, yet evidence suggests that primary care providers are ill prepared to do so. The recent burst of disc . . .

Diabetes prevention: genetic tests affect parents' intentions.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)
BALTIMORE -- The results of predictive genetic testing can have a big impact on the intention of parents with type 2 diabetes to try to prevent the disease in their children, despite the independent . . .

The child with migraine.(SUBSPECIALIST CONSULT)
More often than not the child who presents with recurrent or chronic headaches will be experiencing migraines. Pediatric migraine is very common; in fact, it is one of the top five health problems f . . .

A new era for treatment of muscular dystrophy.(SPECIAL NEEDS: REALIZING POTENTIAL)
Progress in science is generally marked in slow incremental steps. It's also true that there are times when the pace accelerates, leading to fundamental changes in our understanding and treatment of . . .

Study: CT scans pose risks for pediatric trauma patients.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)(Clinical report)
BALTIMORE -- CT scans are responsible for 91% of total radiation exposure in pediatric trauma patients, even though only 32% of imaging done in these patients is computed tomography, study results s . . .

Leadership skills, Part VI.(ON THE LEARNING CURVE)
Great leaders never work alone. Success occurs when a group of people work together as a high-functioning team toward a shared vision. However, achieving this unity is usually much easier said than . . .

Most Georgia practices surveyed lose money on vaccinations.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
BALTIMORE -- Three-quarters of pediatric practices lose money on vaccinations, based on a small study of 34 Georgia practices. For the study, the researchers stratified the practices by percentage . . .

Insured patients pay a premium for the uninsured.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
WASHINGTON -- The average U.S. family spent an extra $1,017 on health care last year to help cover uncompensated care provided to the uninsured, according to a report from Families USA. Privately . . .

Parents focus on kids' health.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
American parents rate their own health care needs as significantly less important than the health needs of their children and say the economic downturn has affected their own health more than that o . . .

HHS releases funds for CHIP.(POLICY & PRACTICE)(Health and Human Services)(Children's Health Insurance Programs)(Brief article)
A total of $6 billion in new federal funds will be available for states and U.S. territories in 2009 to provide health care through their Children's Health Insurance Programs, the Department of Heal . . .

Senators revive defibrillator bill.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
Ohio's senators, George Voinovich (R) and Sherrod Brown (D), have reintroduced legislation that would put automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in U.S. elementary and secondary schools. The bill . . .

Bisphenol-A is focus again.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
The Food and Drug Administration is conducting a new safety review of the chemical bisphenol-A in consumer products such as food containers. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Energ . . .

New ADHD society debuts.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
The American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD) made its debut in June. The Mt. Royal, N.J.-based society claims to be the first devoted to ADHD and aims to improve quality . . .

AOM criteria often met during a cold.(NEWS)(Clinical report)
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BALTIMORE -- One-third of 31 young children with colds met the American Academy of Pediatrics criteria for acute otitis media in a prospective study. Children with preexis . . .

Prior antibiotic could increase resistant UTI risk: first-time UTI in children under 6 years.(NEWS)
BALTIMORE -- Antibiotic exposure within the previous 30 days increased the risk for an antimicrobial-resistant first-time urinary tract infection nearly fourfold in a retrospective cohort study of 5 . . .

Heart problems seen early in anorexic teens.(NEWS)
Los ANGELES -- Significant cardiac abnormalities were detected in nearly a third of adolescent girls hospitalized for the first time with anorexia nervosa in a San Francisco study, raising questions . . .

New acne guidelines stress early, aggressive Tx.(NEWS)
Since ache is a chronic disease capable of causing serious psychological and 'social problems, it warrants early, aggressive treatment and prolonged maintenance therapy, according to updated treatme . . .

Warning on testosterone gels: secondary effects in children.(NEWS)
Two prescription topical testosterone gels will now include a boxed warning following confirmed adverse effects in eight children, the Food and Drug Administration announced last month. The childr . . .

Primary care pediatrician supply seems adequate.(NEWS)
Although the United States faces a shortage of primary care physicians for adults, there appears to be an adequate supply of pediatricians entering primary care, a University of Michigan pediatricia . . .

Diets comparable in obese kids in short run.(NEWS)(Clinical report)
BALTIMORE -- Obese children lose as much weight with low-carbohydrate diets as with either portion-controlled or low-glycemic-load diets within 3 months, but are more likely to gain it back by 1 yea . . .

Health reform plan may debut this month.(NEWS)
WASHINGTON -- The three committees with jurisdiction over health care in the House of Representatives will make their health reform "'framework'" public by early June, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) s . . .

Pediatric visit lengths rose 39% between 1979 and 2006.(NEWS)
BALTIMORE -- The length of pediatric visits has actually increased over the past several decades, from 11.8 minutes in 1979 to 14.2 minutes in 1994, and finally to 16.4 minutes in 2006. Moreover, . . .

Combo vaccines underused due to low payment.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
BALTIMORE -- One in five pediatricians surveyed said that inadequate reimbursement prevents them from using combination vaccines in their practices. The finding, from a nationwide survey of 630 pe . . .

Bronchiolitis burden reduced by combo Tx.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
The combination of oral dexamethasone and nebulized epinephrine appeared to reduce hospital admission, hasten discharge from the emergency department, and decrease the duration of symptoms in infant . . .

Rotavirus hospitalizations drop 84% in 3 years.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
BALTIMORE -- Rotavirus hospitalizations declined by 84% from 2006 to 2008 among children less than 3 years of age, suggesting a dramatic effect of vaccination. That degree of decline was seen even . . .

Flu shot advice hits home with asthma patients.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
BALTIMORE -- Among children with asthma who received a recommendation from their physician to get the influenza vaccine, the rate of subsequent vaccination was 76%, compared with 16% among children . . .

Monitor the 2009-H1N1 influenza outbreak.(ID CONSULT)
We are learning more daily about the 2009-H1N1 influenza, now also called the novel H1N1 flu, as the outbreak unfolds. It will be critical for us as clinicians to stay on top of developments so that . . .

Refusal to vaccinate against pertussis ups risk radically.(ID CONSULT)
Children whose parents refused the pertussis vaccine were 23 times more likely to contract the disease than were children whose parents allowed them to receive the vaccine, a case-control study foun . . .