Pediatric News articles from February 2009

Pediatric News archives from February 2009

Obesity clinics stress a healthy lifestyle.(NEWS)
February 1, 2009... Pediatric obesity clinics aiming to get children healthy are springing up across the country. Although pediatricians and endocrinologists hope the trend continues, the programs are not without problems: a hefty price tag, for one, and a dearth...

11 million children covered under SCHIP expansion: states required to offer mental parity.(NEWS)
February 1, 2009... Nearly 11 million low-income children will receive health coverage under the reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which was recently signed into law by President Barack Obama. The legislation...

Vaccine dearth, refusals cited Minn. Hib cases.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
February 1, 2009... An outbreak of invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) in five Minnesota infants in 2008 appears to be related to vaccine shortages that year, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state of Minnesota have...

Two postviral wheezing therapies challenged.(NEWS)(Clinical report)
February 1, 2009... Preschool-age children with acute postviral wheezing should not routinely be given oral prednisolone or high-dose inhaled fluticasone, according to negative findings from two recent reports. Oral corticosteroids are considered the keystone...

Percentage of physicians who are women.(VITAL SIGNS)
February 1, 2009... Percentage of Physicians Who Are Women (Active physicians by specialty, 2007) Pediatrics 55.4% Child and adolescent psychiatry 45.8% Internal medicine 32.2% Family medicine/ general...

Benefits of both lifestyle changes, drugs noted in obesity.(NEWS)
February 1, 2009... Family-based lifestyle changes and weight-loss drugs get overweight and obese children and teens to lose weight, at least over the short term, a Cochrane Collaboration review of data from across five continents shows. Meta-analyses were...

Antibiotics linked to necrotizing enterocolitis.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
February 1, 2009... Prolonged empirical antibiotic therapy is associated with an increased risk of necrotizing enterocolitis and death in extremely low-birth-weight infants, results of a retrospective study found. Although the study couldn't prove causality,...

AAP updates guidelines for infectious disease exclusions.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
February 1, 2009... Conjunctivitis: It's red, it's itchy, it's crusty, but it is not--repeat NOT--cause for automatic exclusion from day care or school, according to the latest edition of the American Academy of Pediatrics" "Managing Infectious Diseases in Child...

Flu season throws some clinical curveballs.(ID CONSULT)
February 1, 2009... This year's influenza season, while mild so far, comes with a few of Mother Nature's curveballs that will impact our approach to prevention and treatment. Normally, peak influenza activity hits by mid-January, and as of mid-January this...

Behavioral screening helps catch HSV-2 in young women.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
February 1, 2009... WASHINGTON -- Herpes simplex virus type 2 infected approximately one-third of the young women in a study of 127 adolescents, but behavioral and demographic factors were more predictive of disease than were clinical symptoms. Data from...

Postpartum pertussis vaccine has potential.(INFECTIOUS DISEASES)
February 1, 2009... WASHINGTON -- a majority of new mothers at high risk for pertussis were receptive to a postpartum pertussis vaccine before leaving the hospital, based on data from more than 1,000 women after implementation of a new hospital protocol. ...

Behavioral consult: talking with families about vaccines.(BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS)(Viewpoint essay)
February 1, 2009... The Centers for Disease Control offers a brochure for parents on the importance of getting their children vaccinated. It's comprehensive, and--at 35 pages--perhaps a tad overwhelming for the typical mom or dad balancing work, budget woes, meal...

Abused adolescents are embedding objects.(BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS)(Clinical report)
February 1, 2009... CHICAGO -- Radiologists have reported multiple cases of self-mutilation by adolescents involving the deliberate embedding of foreign objects such as paperclips, staples, and pieces of glass into soft tissues of the arms, hands, feet, and...

Accidental bed-related infant deaths quadruple.(BEHAVIORAL PEDIATRICS)
February 1, 2009... Infant deaths caused by accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed quadrupled between 1984 and 2004, according to a review of United States infant mortality data. Previous studies of infant deaths have not focused on deaths caused by...

A fat-fighting stimulus.(LETTERS FROM MAINE)(encouraging children to become more physically active)(Column)
February 1, 2009... The bad news is that the global economy has gone in the toilet. The good news is that most economists agree on something. They suggest that to winch ourselves out of this abyss, we (or our government) must do some serious spending. As a...

Is universal vaccination of boys the next step in fighting HPV? Boys and girls should be vaccinated.(POINT/COUNTERPOINT)
February 1, 2009... Widespread immunization of girls and boys against the human papillomavirus could fully eradicate types 16 and 18 of the virus. If we miss half the equation by leaving the boys out of our vaccination strategy, that type of public health success...

Is universal vaccination of boys the next step in fighting HPV? The evidence needs time to mature.(POINT/COUNTERPOINT)
February 1, 2009... The issue of immunizing males against HPV often comes down to whether they should receive the vaccine to protect females. Doing so is honorable and even reasonable, but at this point there is little evidence suggesting that this is...

Brain involvement in Sturge-Weber.(SPECIAL NEEDS: REALIZING POTENTIAL)
February 1, 2009... Sometimes early handedness before 1 year of life, or a visual gaze preference that looks as if the child is gazing at people with his or her head turned to one side, may be an important sign that a young child has Sturge-Weber syndrome brain...

Some diabetic kids try unhealthy ways to shed pounds.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)
February 1, 2009... Obese girls and boys with type 2 diabetes sometimes use unhealthy weight-loss tactics such as taking pills or laxatives and skipping meals and insulin, a survey of diabetic youths has found. "Such practices may have a negative effect on...

Unraveling autism.(GENOMIC MEDICINE)
February 1, 2009... Autism and the related autism spectrum disorders are an enigmatic and substantial cause of developmental delay. Affecting up to 0.5%-1% of children and recognized as a growing issue in adult populations, autism affects most by the age of 3...

Study eyes schoolchildren's reports of abdominal pain.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)(Clinical report)
February 1, 2009... ORLANDO -- Abdominal pain was the most common gastrointestinal symptom reported by students in third to eighth grade, and was independently associated with school absences in an ethnically diverse cohort. To clarify the prevalence and...

Rapid prednisone therapy aids sudden severe acne.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)
February 1, 2009... LAS VEGAS -- New patients may have to wait several months to see a dermatologist, but teenagers with profoundly severe sudden-onset acne should be seen right away, according to a specialist in the field. These patients exhibit inflammatory...

Developing leadership, Part 1.(ON THE LEARNING CURVE)(Column)
February 1, 2009... Any discussion of leadership must start with a look inward, examining one's own goals and leadership style. This month, I will discuss establishing long-term goals and how to plan to achieve those goals. Though these goals may, and probably...

Care coordination effective in chronic health cases.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
February 1, 2009... Care coordination could be a cost-effective strategy to help families of children with special health care needs navigate the health care and school systems, according to the results of a pilot program in Pennsylvania. Highmark Blue...

UnitedHealth to replace database, settles lawsuit.(PRACTICE TRENDS)
February 1, 2009... Aa part of an agreement with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, UnitedHealth Group has agreed to shut down a national billing database used by health plans to determine reimbursements to members who use out-of-network physician services....

Agencies issue importer guidance.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
February 1, 2009... Eight federal agencies, including the Consumer Product Safety Commission, have issued draft guidance on how importers can ensure that products such as toys are in compliance with U.S. laws and regulations. The document recommends that importers...

Activity drops in young children.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
February 1, 2009... A significant reduction in physical activity appears to occur between the ages of 3 years and 5 years, according to research published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. The researchers used accelerometers to measure activity among 244...

Bill seeks better vision care.(POLICY & PRACTICE)(Vision Care for Kids Act)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Two U.S. senators have introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at avoiding undiagnosed and untreated vision problems in school-aged children. Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), who is blind in one eye as a result of undiagnosed amblyopia during childhood,...

SCHIP children need Medicaid.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
February 1, 2009... Medicaid is critical for continuing coverage of many children who leave the State Children's Health Insurance Program, while private insurance does relatively little for such children, according to a study from Mathematica Policy Research Inc....

Doctors obtain Medicaid papers.(POLICY & PRACTICE)
February 1, 2009... The Louisiana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has obtained most of the documents it wanted on the state's proposed Medicaid reform plan, the group's executive director, Sandra Adams, said in an interview. The AAP chapter filed a...

Thirdhand smoke hazard noted.(POLICY & PRACTICE)(Brief article)
February 1, 2009... Smokers who believe that thirdhand smoke--tobacco contamination that remains after a cigarette is extinguished--harms their children are more likely than other parents to ban smoking in their homes, according to a study in Pediatrics. The...