Archives of Disease in Childhood articles from December 2002

Archives of Disease in Childhood archives from December 2002

Inhaled corticosteroids and adrenal insufficiency: inhaled steroids are safe at normal doses, but beware very high doses, especially of fluticasone. (Editorial).
December 1, 2002... When inhaled corticosteroid therapy (ICT) was introduced to clinical practice thirty years ago, it appeared to be both effective and safe. (1, 2) There was no evidence of adrenal suppression at the recommended doses (3, 4) and when oral...

Survey of adrenal crisis associated with inhaled corticosteroids in the United Kingdom. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Background: Until recently, only two cases of acute adrenal crisis associated with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) had been reported worldwide. We identified four additional cases and sought to survey the frequency of this side effect in the...

Surveillance for fatal suspected adverse drug reactions in the UK. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aim: To determine the nature and number of suspected adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with fatal outcomes in children reported through the yellow card scheme. Methods: All reports of suspected ADRs with a fatal outcome in children...

Infant oxygen chair (Oxychair). (Images in Paediatrics).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Inspired by Dr P Davies' presentation at this year's Royal College Spring Meeting, (1) I offer the following plan for the provision of oxygen for infants (up to 13 kg). The design is essentially a low cost update on the Derbyshire children's...

Need and demand for parenting programmes in general practice. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aims: To establish the prevalence of behaviour problems and the level of interest in parenting programmes in a population sample of parents of children aged 2-8 years, and to assess to what extent they are associated with socioeconomic factors....

Improving mental health through parenting programmes: block randomised controlled trial. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aims: To assess the effectiveness of a parenting programme, delivered by health visitors in primary care, in improving the mental health of children and their parents among a representative general practice population. Methods: Parents of...

Breast feeding and allergic diseases in infants -- a prospective birth cohort study. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aims: To investigate the effect of breast feeding on allergic disease in infants up to 2 years of age. Methods: A birth cohort of 4089 infants was followed prospectively in Stockholm, Sweden. Information about various exposures was obtained...

Early respiratory and skin symptoms in relation to ethnic background: the importance of socioeconomic status; the PIAMA study. (Original Article).(Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy)
December 1, 2002... Aims: To evaluate ethnic differences in the prevalence of respiratory and skin symptoms in the first two years of life. Methods: A total of 4146 children participated in the Prevention and Incidence of Asthma and Mite Allergy (PIAMA) study....

Economic evaluation of an acute paediatric hospital at home clinical trial. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aims: To compare the privately borne and NHS costs of hospital at home (HAH) and conventional inpatient care for children with selected acute conditions. Methods: Prospective economic evaluation using cost minimisation analysis within a...

Recall bias, MMR, and autism. (Short Report).(measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine)
December 1, 2002... Parents of autistic children with regressive symptoms who were diagnosed after the publicity alleging a link with measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine tended to recall the onset as shortly after MMR more often than parents of similar...

Screening for coeliac disease in type 1 diabetes. (Review).
December 1, 2002... The average prevalence of coeliac disease among children with diabetes mellitus in 26 reports was 4.5% (0.97-16.4%). Malabsorption, unstable diabetes, and growth failure, indicate that coeliac disease may be present. Even those who are...

The legendary forty-hour working week. (Postcard from Down Under).
December 1, 2002... One of the many reasons I was keen to work in Australia was to see if they really had achieved what we're told they have--the legendary forty-hour working week. More to the point, how have they reconciled that magical triumvirate: Service,...

Adult outcome of congenital lower respiratory tract malformations. (Paediatric Origins of Adult Lung Diseases).
December 1, 2002... Congenital malformations of the lower respiratory tract are usually diagnosed and managed in the newborn period, in infancy, or in childhood. To what extent should the adult pulmonologist be experienced in this predominantly paediatric field?...

Long term behavioural outcome after neonatal arterial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aims: To evaluate behavioural outcome and quality of life in children aged 8-14 years after neonatal arterial switch operation for transposition of the great arteries. Methods: Sixty children operated as neonates with combined deep...

Outcome of reaching end stage renal failure in children under 2 years of age. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aims: To determine the outcome of children who reach end stage renal failure before the age of 2 years. Methods: Using a retrospective questionnaire, 10 years' data were collected from the paediatric nephrology units in Britain and Ireland...

Are annual blood tests in preschool cystic fibrosis patients worthwhile? (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aim: To investigate whether routine annual assessment blood tests in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients under 5 years influence management. Methods: Retrospective review of the results of the first annual assessment blood tests of patients with...

Health of boys in secure care. (Archivist).(juvenile offenders)
December 1, 2002... Boys in secure care because of serious or persistent offending are clearly a highly selected population at high risk of mental health problems. The mental health needs of boys in four secure units have been assessed (L Kroll and colleagues....

Maldigestion and malabsorption of dietary lipid during severe childhood malnutrition. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Background: Diets rich in lipid are used to provide energy density in treating children with severe malnutrition, but the extent to which their digestion and absorption can cope with the load effectively is uncertain. Aim: To determine the...

Correction of the anion gap for albumin in order to detect occult tissue anions in shock. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Background: It is believed that hypoalbuminaemia confounds interpretation of the anion gap (AG) unless corrected for serum albumin in critically ill children with shock. Aim: To compare the ability of the AG and the albumin corrected anion...

Unexplained extra visits to general practitioners before the diagnosis of first urinay tract infection: a case-control study. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aims: To determine: (1) whether children diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (UTI) visited their general practitioner (GP) more frequently before the diagnosis of UTI was established compared to children never diagnosed with a UTI; and (2)...

Toe deformity from prolonged pulse oximetry. (Images in Paediatrics).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... We have seen toe deformities in three of our babies who needed prolonged pulse oximetry. The deformities started to manifest beyond the age of 3 months. They consisted of elevation of one or more of the second to fourth toes (see figs 1 and 2)...

Use of the internet by parents of paediatric outpatients. (Original Article).
December 1, 2002... Aims: (1) To establish how many parents of children seen in paediatric outpatient departments use the internet to find information about their child's medical condition. (2) To ascertain what information is sought and found, and what proportion...

Acute pulmonary oedema complicating polyethylene glycol intestinal lavage. (Case Report).
December 1, 2002... Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has gained a reputation as safe and well tolerated (1) method of bowel preparation for colonoscopy, colonic surgery, radiological examination, and faecal dysimpaction in intractable constipation. PEG 3350 is a...

Babies of Asian families in the UK are still smaller at birth. (Archivist).
December 1, 2002... Babies born in developing countries tend to be lighter at birth than babies born in more advantaged countries although within developing countries more affluent mothers have babies whose birthweights are similar to those of babies in the...

Multiple magnet ingestion and gastrointestinal morbidity. (Case Report).
December 1, 2002... Foreign body ingestion is common but multiple magnet ingestion is rare. When more than one magnet is ingested, gastrointestinal complications may occur. The magnets are attracted to each other across the bowel wall and this may lead to pressure...

Acute encephalopathy with parvovirus B19 infection in sickle cell disease. (Case Report).
December 1, 2002... A 13 year old girl with haemoglobin S[[beta].sup.+]thalassaemia developed simultaneous aplastic crisis and encephalopathy associated with parvovirus B19 (PB19) infection. Brain magnetic resonance imaging findings were consistent with central...

Low back pain at presentation in a newly diagnosed diabetic. (Case Report).
December 1, 2002... Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus predisposes to a range of different and unusual infections, including epidural and psoas abscesses. However, they occur mainly in adults with longstanding diabetes. We report the case of a 12 year old boy who...

Coughing up a lung. (Images in Paediatrics).(congenital lung hernias)
December 1, 2002... A 10 year old girl presented with a harsh "barky" cough which resolved with sleep. Physical examination revealed lungs clear to auscultation, no cervical crepitus or other neck deformities. An upper gastrointestinal series was performed to...

How do we treat wheezing infants? evidence or anecdote. (Current Topic).
December 1, 2002... Consultant paediatricians were questioned about their management of wheezing disorders in infants. Salbutamol was the preferred bronchodilator for recurrent wheeze, whereas ipratropium was preferred in viral bronchiolitis. Doses of both...

Towards evidence based medicine for paediatricians. (Archimedes Updates).
December 1, 2002... In order to give the best care to patients and families, paediatricians need to integrate the highest quality scientific evidence with clinical expertise and the opinions of the family. Archimedes is a bimonthly section which seeks to assist...

Auto-autonomy: the ethics of end of road-life issues. (Short Report).(quality of life anecdote)
December 1, 2002... THE PROBLEM: MOTORCAR MORALITY AND AUTOMOBILE AGEING Advances in modern technology mean that cars are living longer than ever before. This raises important end-of-road-life issues, as it becomes increasingly difficult to provide leaded fuel...

Do "Shufflebottoms" bottom shuffle? (Original Article).(infant locomotion and surname origin)
December 1, 2002... Aims: To investigate anecdotal evidence that the name "Shufflebottom" originates from the dominantly inherited characteristic of bottom shuffling. Methods: A questionnaire based retrospective study to determine the incidence of bottom...

"Of Stupidity or Folly": Thomas Willis's perspective on mental retardation. (Paediatric Lessons from the Past).
December 1, 2002... "Mental retardation" is a modern term for an age old problem. The descriptions of paediatric cases contained within the works of Thomas Willis (1621-75) have been increasingly recognised for their insight into seventeenth century child health...

Tics and psychiatric symptoms. (Archivist).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Most studies of psychiatric problems in children with tics have included only children referred to clinics. There have been few community based studies and those that have been reported have used parent reports the validity of which has been...

Letter.(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2002... If you have a burning desire to respond to a paper published in ADC or FUN, why not make use of our "rapid response" option? Log on to our website (www.archdischild.com), find the paper that interests you, click on "full text" and send your...

Correction.(Arch Dis Child 2002;87:181-3, September issue)(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2002... In the paper by Kneen et al in the September issue of Archives (Arch Dis Child 2002;87:181-3). figure 1 was reproduced with permission from reference 8 (Solomon T, Kneen R. Neurological Presentations. In: Beeching N, Gill G, eds. Lecture Notes...

Heart. (Lucina).(occlusive devices and atrial septal defects)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Closure of isolated atrial septal defect by catheter implacement of an occlusive device causes less short term disturbance to children and their families and is cheaper than surgical closure (Heart 2002;8867-70). In Victoria, Australia 43...

Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. (Lucina).(influenza)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Influenza may spread among babies in neonatal intensive care units. In Barcelona in 1999 (Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 2002;21:196-200) there were two oubreaks in one hospital (in late winter and spring and again in autumn) and one...

Journal of the American Medical Association. (Lucina).(breastfeeding and intelligence)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Do breastfed babies become more intelligent adults? In Copenhagen (Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;287:2365-71) two birth cohorts, one of 490 men and 483 women and one of 2280 men, all born between October 1959 and December...

British Journal of General Practice. (Lucina).(respiratory infections)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... An estimated two out of every three preschool children in the United Kingdom visit their general practitioners at least once a year with acute respiratory infections and most will have a cough. A systematic review of eight randomised controlled...

Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. (Lucina).(Rotavirus infections)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Rotavirus infection in young children causes diarrhoea, vomiting, and fever but rotavirus isolation is much less likely when there is only one of these symptoms. At children's hospitals in California, Ohio, and Virginia (Pediatric Infectious...

Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. (Lucina).(drinking and youth)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Doctors in Sydney (Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2002; 156:345-8) have warned that children and adolescents who are brought to emergency departments drunk are being inadequately assessed and sent home without apparent...

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. (Lucina).(socioeconomic status and violent death risk)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Low parental socioeconomic status is a major determinant of the risk of violent death in young people. In Sweden (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2002; 56:688-92) data were analysed for almost 1500 violent deaths of people aged...

Lancet. (Lucina).(war zones and emotional trauma in children)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... A study in the Gaza strip (Lancet 2002;359:1801-4, see also commentary, ibid: 1793-4) has again illustrated the mental traumas suffered by children in war zones. In the first two months of 2001 91 children aged 9-18 years whose homes had been...

New England Journal of Medicine. (Lucina).(hunger and ghrelin hormone)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2002... Ghrelin is a recently identified hormone secreted by the stomach. Plasma concentrations fall after meals and then gradually increase until the next meal. Infusions of ghrelin increase the feeling of hunger. A study in Seattle (New England...