Pediatric News articles from December 2004

Pediatric News archives from December 2004

Vaccine counseling finally rewarded.
December 1, 2004... A long anticipated set of new CPT codes recognizes the counseling work involved in administering injectable child and adolescent immunizations. "This is great news for pediatricians and all physicians who give vaccines," Joel Bradley,...

Changes coming for use of the varicella vaccine: possible changes are adding a second dose, combining it with another vaccine.
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- Some changes may be ahead in recommendations for varicella vaccine regarding the best age for vaccination, whether to give a second dose, and whether to approve a new vaccine that combines varicella with MMR, Larry K....

GSK's rotavirus vaccine: no link to intussusception: different than vaccine withdrawn in 1999.
December 1, 2004... WASHINGTON -- GlaxoSmithKline's rotavirus vaccine is not associated with increased risk of intussusception, Miguel O'Ryan, M.D., reported at the annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, sponsored by the American...

Short-term isulin may restore pancreatic function in diabetics.(News)
December 1, 2004... QUEBEC CITY -- A 12-week course of intense insulin therapy appears to restore pancreatic function in some adolescents with type 2 diabetes, allowing complete discontinuation of therapy with maintenance of stable glycemic control, according to...

MRSA-linked acute osteomyelitis is bad.(Infectious Diseases)(Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus)
December 1, 2004... WASHINGTON -- Increasing rates of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are associated with worse outcome among children with acute osteomyelitis, Jesus Saavedra-Lozano, M.D., reported at the annual Interscience...

Community-acquired MRSA sent many L.A. children to hospital.(Infectious Diseases)(Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... WASHINGTON -- A clonal outbreak of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Los Angeles County led to a high rate of hospitalizations among children in 2003, Elizabeth Bancroft, M.D., reported in a poster at the annual...

Managing community-acquired MRSA.(ID Consult)(Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)
December 1, 2004... The emergence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has made us reexamine our long held practices and to perhaps consider some new approaches to children with skin and soft tissue infections. Several new...

Experts debate responses to pertussis rise.(Infectious Diseases)
December 1, 2004... WASHINGTON -- Physicians are becoming increasingly aware that pertussis is not a bygone illness, but one that is periodically resurfacing, despite rising vaccination rates. In the last 20 years or so, pertussis cases have spiked and...

Ophthalmic moxifloxacin looks safe.(Infectious Diseases)
December 1, 2004... ROCKVILLE, MD. -- A subconjunctival hemorrhage was the only pediatric adverse event reported for ophthalmic moxifloxacin during a recent 10-month period, Dr. J. Harry Gunkel said at a meeting of the Food and Drug Administration's pediatric...

Screening success mixed in international adoptees.(Infectious Diseases)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- There's good news and bad news when it comes to screening for infectious diseases in international adoptees, Dr. Dana E. Johnson said at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies. The good news is that the...

Hepatitis A incidence plummets to new lows.(Infectious Diseases)
December 1, 2004... ATLANTA -- Hepatitis A vaccination efforts in the United States have resulted in unprecedented declines in disease incidence in targeted areas, with the largest declines among children, Dr. Beth Bell reported at a meeting of the Centers for...

FDA chided for lax oversight of vaccine plant: even under intense questioning, the acting FDA chief would not concede any major mistakes.(Infectious Diseases)(Food and Drug Administration)
December 1, 2004... WASHINGTON -- Documents show that the Food and Drug Administration ignored serious problems at the Chiron facility that was to produce half the U.S. influenza vaccine for this flu season, congressional Democrats asserted at a hearing of the...

Experimental vaccine prevents HPV 16--associated cervical Ca.(Infectious Diseases)(Human papillomavirus)
December 1, 2004... WASHINGTON -- An experimental monovalent vaccine against human papillomavirus strain 16 prevents cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grades 2 and 3 in young women, Constance Mao, M.D., reported at the annual Interscience Conference on...

Neurologic complications from flu.(Clinical Capsules)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Eight children were hospitalized at Texas Children's Hospital with encephalopathy syndromes during a 2003 flu outbreak in Texas, reported Stephen M. Maricich, M.D., of the hospital, and his associates. None of the children had received a flu...

Macrolides on the rise.(Clinical Capsules)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Second-generation macrolide therapy increased from 0.9% to 5.0% for otitis media and from 5.2% to 24.0% for pneumonia in children younger than 6 years between 1996 and 2000, said Christopher J. Stille, M.D., of the University of Massachusetts,...

TIV safe in population study.(Clinical Capsules)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... No evidence of serious adverse events within 2 weeks of vaccination appeared in a population-based study of 251,600 children, mean age 10 years, who received the trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine, said Eric K. France, M.D., of Kaiser...

Hepatitis B incidence declines.(Clinical Capsules)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Incidence of acute hepatitis B declined by 89% among U.S. children aged 19 years and younger between 1990 and 2002, based on data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (MMWR 2004;53:1015-8). A total of 13,829 cases were...

Group A strep at school.(Clinical Capsules)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... In a 4-year longitudinal study of 125 school-aged children, 53 were classified as carriers of group A streptococci (GAS) at least once, said Judith M. Martin, M.D., and her colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh. A total of 878 of 5,658...

New drug may treat or prevent pediatric URIs.(Infectious Diseases)(Upper respiratory infections)
December 1, 2004... TAMPERE, FINLAND -- A new antiviral and immunomodulating agent called Anaferon appears to have properties that prevent and treat pediatric upper respiratory illnesses, Andrey V. Martyushev-Poklad, M.D., reported at the annual meeting of the...

Home rules.(Letters From Maine)
December 1, 2004... Im sure that there are population pockets around the country where emergency room over-crowding is primarily the result of hospital-bed shortages, but here in Brunswick, and I suspect many other communities, unnecessary and inappropriate ER...

Barriers to EHRs.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... Regarding barriers to using electronic health records in medical practice ("Tactics Aim to Gain Widespread EHR Adoption," August, 2004, p. 52), I would list these: * My practice is rather small and can't afford a $30,000, or even a $5,000,...

Not user friendly.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... I see two barriers to using electronic health records: * Typing. I can't type fast enough to be productive. * Platforms. There are too many of them. The variety of proprietary software products precludes ease of use for review and...

Ethical challenges of PGD.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... Thank you for addressing an important topic--preimplantation genetic diagnosis ("Pro & Con: Should preimplantation genetic diagnosis be used to produce suitable donors for stem cell transplants?" September 2004, p. 19). The scenario in...

Mayonnaise beats drugs for head lice.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... I read your advice on treating head lice with home remedies ("Beyond Chicken Soup: Head Lice and Dandruff," September 2004, p. 43). We had a large outbreak of head lice over a 2-year period (2000-2002) in which there was a strong degree of...

Hepatitis B vaccine.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... In a recent issue, several reasons were given for the lack of administration of the hepatitis B vaccine prior to discharge from the nursery, but no mention was made of the most important reason we decided against doing it in our hospital ("More...

Offer modest patients a gown.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 2004... I read with interest the letter "Some Girls Resist Exam" (August 2004, p. 17). Ten years ago I joined a practice as the first woman in a group of three male pediatricians. My first departure from the prevailing culture was to order...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2004... A quote attributed to Susanna N. Visser ("Survey Suggests ADHD Overtreatment Is Unlikely," Oct. 1, 2004, p. 36) overstated her study findings. Ms. Visser, an epidemiologist with the CDC in Atlanta, collected data from parent reports of being...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2004... The article "ACIP: Questions on Menactra Remain" (November 2004, p. 1) should have stated that one study has suggested that Menactra could be given concomitantly with a diphtheria-tetanus booster vaccine at the 11- to 12-year-old visit.

Giggling as a prescription.(Behavioral Consult)
December 1, 2004... If I were to ask you, "What are the attributes of a great parent?" would "lightheartedness" make your list? My husband, who is also a developmental and behavioral pediatrician, got me thinking about giggles some years ago when he observed that...

Optimal developmental screening tools underutilized by pediatricians, survey shows.(Behavioral Pediatrics)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- Efforts by pediatricians to improve screening have fallen short, results of a large survey suggest. "It's likely that general pediatricians continue to miss a substantial proportion of kids with developmental problems,"...

ADHD often persists as boys become men: the boys with ADHD had greater prevalence of a variety of psychiatric disorders as young adults.(Behavioral Pediatrics)(Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
December 1, 2004... PARIS -- Boys diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder have a 56% chance of retaining the disorder into adulthood, according to a prospective, 10-year follow-up study of 112 boys. Among the boys with attention-deficit...

Long-acting ADHD treatment shows promise in study.(Behavioral Pediatrics)(Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)
December 1, 2004... CHICAGO -- A long-acting formulation of dexmethylphenidate is safe and effective in children and adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to data presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Developmental and...

What to ask when a child's eye 'looks funny".(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... LAS VEVAS -- When a parent of an infant or young child comes to you and says, "My child's eye looks funny," consider using a diagram of a face to have the parent point out the area that concerns them, Tim Stout, M.D., advised at a meeting...

Weekend atropine is effective against 'lazy eye'.(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... NEW ORLEANS -- A drop of atropine twice a week can be as effective as daily eye drops when correcting amblyopia in young children. The Pediatric Eye Disease Investigator Group (PEDIG) reported an average improvement of 2.3 lines in reading...

Shorter duration of patching adequate for amblyopia.(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... ANAHEIM, CALIF. -- Shorter amounts of eye patching are adequate for both moderate and severe amblyopia in young children, according to the results of two randomized, controlled studies reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of...

Allergy outgrown: maintain peanut tolerance.(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... Children who have outgrown peanut allergy have an 8% chance of recurrence, and the risk is significantly higher in patients who continue to largely avoid peanut, according to a recently reported study. "We now recommend that our patients...

Influenza.(Beyond Chicken Soup)
December 1, 2004... Influenza -- or the flu as it's commonly known--has been a hot topic this fall. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in early October that priority for receiving the flu vaccine should be given to a number of...

Fibromyalgia diagnosis is not as strict in children.(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... SANTA MONICA, CALIF. -- Widespread musculoskeletal pain and tenderness that lasts more than 3 months in children should be considered fibromyalgia, even if the patient doesn't meet the adult diagnostic criteria of 11 of 18 tender points, said...

Endoscopic therapy works well for VUR.(Clinical Rounds)(Vesicoureteral re flux)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- Vesicoureteral re flux resolves in 72% of patients after one treatment with endoscopic therapy and in up to 85% after multiple endoscopic treatments, Jack S. Elder, M.D., said in a poster presentation at the annual meeting of...

VCUG no use in urethral obstruction Dx.(Clinical Rounds)(Voiding cystourethrography)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... SAN ERANCISCO -- Voiding cystourethrography is unreliable in detecting urethral obstruction in boys, according to a poster presented by Laetitia M.O. de Kort, M.D., at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Raters could...

Incidence of congenital penile anomalies rising: hypospadias, chordee, or a combination of the two made up more than 80% of the anomalies.(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. incidence of congenital penile anomalies increased from 7/1,000 live male newborns in 1988-1991 to 8.3/1,000 in 1997-2000, according to an analysis of a large national database. This significant finding supports...

A hot list of PDA essentials.(Digital Assistance)
December 1, 2004... For the past 2 years, Digital Assistance has presented useful PDA software, accessories, and Web sites. With enthusiasm, we've taken on the interesting--and at times daunting--challenge of reviewing the newest in handheld technology for the...

Many conditions may cause a child to limp.(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... LAS VEGAS -- Of all the conditions that may cause a child to limp or refuse to walk, septic arthritis is an emergency with a time-dependent outcome, Michael J. Goldberg, M.D., said at a meeting sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics...

Removable splints better than casts for wrist buckle fractures.(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- Children with wrist buckle fractures treated with removable splints functioned better and had fewer difficulties with activities than children with fractures placed in casts, in a randomized study. Results of the first...

Allegra-D 24 hour, Concerta 72 mg.(New & Approved)
December 1, 2004... Allegra-D 24 Hour Extended-Release Tablets (fexofenadine HCl 180 mg; pseudoephedrine HCl 240 mg, Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc.) The Food and Drug Administration approved Allegra-D 24 Hour Extended-Release tablets for relief of symptoms...

Secondhand smoke may increase risk of clefts.(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... KISSIMMEE, FLA, -- Women exposed to secondhand smoke have a 1.3 times increased risk of delivering a child with cleft palate and a 1.2 times increased risk for cleft lip, according to preliminary data from the National Birth Defects Prevention...

Recurrent ALTEs may be linked to anemia.(Clinical Rounds)(Life-threatening events)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- The recurrence of apparent life-threatening events was associated with iron deficiency in a prospective case-control study of 216 children, Raymond D. Pitetti, M.D., said at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic...

Noninvasive Tx common for stone disease.(Clinical Rounds)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- Children with pediatric stone disease require invasive procedures infrequently and have metabolic abnormalities a minority of the time, Kevan M. Sternberg, M.D., reported in a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the...

Dental caries risk can depend partly on lack of fluoridated water at home.
December 1, 2004... Ask pediatric patients to open wide and show their pearly whites--and then ask where they live. Primary care physicians should prescribe oral fluoride supplements to preschool children older than 6 months who live in areas with a...

Many children don't outgrow GERD at 5 years.(Gastroesophageal reflux disease)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... NEW ORLEANS -- More than one-third of children aged 5 and older who present with gastroesophageal reflux disease have a history of the disorder in infancy, Vasundhara Tolia, M.D., reported in a poster session at the annual Digestive Disease...

Treadmill best exercise test for obese children.(Clinical Rounds)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- Treadmill testing is more effective than ergometer testing with a stationary bicycle in morbidly obese children aged 10-18 years, Daniel Preud'Homme, M.D., reported in a poster session at the annual meeting of the Pediatric...

Renal US adds important info in febrile UTIs.(Clinical Rounds)(Ferile urinary tract infection)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- While some investigators have suggested that a voiding cystourethrogram alone is sufficient in infants with a febrile urinary tract infection, renal ultrasound definitely adds important information, Louis J. Giorgi Jr., M.D.,...

Medication errors occur in outpatient practice.(Practice Trends)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- Fourteen pediatricians reported 147 errors in their outpatient practices during a 4-month prospective study, Julie J. Mohr, Ph.D., reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Although...

Behavioral pediatrics training.(Policy & Practice)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Many pediatricians don't receive adequate training in developmental and behavioral pediatrics, according to a Commonwealth Fund survey of 437 general pediatric faculty members. Thirty-eight percent of the respondents thought that training in...

Steroids banned.(Policy & Practice)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... "Designer" steroids such as androstenedione, tetrahydrogestrinone, and 16 other substances have been added to the list of banned anabolic steroids under a new law signed by President Bush. The Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 (S. 2195),...

More cuts to children's programs.(Policy & Practice)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... In the last year, nearly half the states have made it more difficult for eligible children and families to acquire and retain public health coverage, a report from the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured indicated. Faced with...

Measuring quality.(Policy & Practice)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Not enough is known about the quality of care that Medicaid and SCHIP provide, panelists said at a briefing sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform. A core set of quality measures should be required of every Medicaid and SCHIP program in...

Anthem-WellPoint merger.(Policy & Practice)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Anthem Inc., the for-profit BlueCross BlueShield insurance giant that covers nearly 13 million people, will need to start paying special attention to the needs of mental health patients. As part of its $16.4 billion merger deal with WellPoint...

Internet medical journal launched.(Policy & Practice)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The Public Library of Science, a coalition of researchers and physicians founded 4 years ago by Nobel Prize winner and former National Institutes of Health director Harold Varmus, M.D., has launched PLoS Medicine, a free online medical journal....

Web messaging boosts productivity, revenue.(Practice Trends)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- Giving patients access to online communications with physicians and their offices not only decreased phone calls but also decreased the volume of all messages and increased revenues in a controlled study, said Eric M....

Electronic records not geared to pediatrics.(Practice Trends)
December 1, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO -- The systems available for computerized medical records don't necessarily meet the needs of pediatricians, Kevin Johnson, M.D., said at the triennial congress of the International Medical Informatics Association. ...

How to prepare for adoption.(The Rest of Your Life)
December 1, 2004... Fourteen years ago, Gary Onady, M.D., was performing an EKG on a patient who presented with chest pain when his wife called to tell him that a birth mother in Columbus, Ohio, had chosen them to adopt her newborn daughter. The Onadys, drawn...