News

A new study has found that if you assume parents will cooperate when it comes to vaccinating their children, many will, whereas if you appear to give them a choice, many more won’t.

Guidelines for preventing and treating HIV/AIDS-related opportunistic infections (OIs) in children recently received a facelift. Government agencies and industry associations banded together to update recommendations previously published in 2009.

It seems that signs of autism may surface in infants aged as young as 2 months, which would be the earliest known indicator of social disability, according to a recent study.

Hospitalizations and in-hospital deaths of children with gunshot wounds (GSWs) are increasing, up 81% and 59%, respectively, from 1997 to 2009.

With the prevalence of, and prescriptions for, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rising steeply in the past decade, experts are looking at whether current diagnostic practices and definitions are helping or hindering the situation.

As a result of gaping holes in what is known about the actual incidence of concussions in young athletes and the effects of these traumatic brain injuries, the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council are calling for a national system to track sports-related concussions in children and adolescents aged 19 years and younger.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have joined forces to create a new registry of sudden deaths in young people. The hope is that the resulting database will provide researchers and health care practitioners with valuable information regarding the scope of the problem and ideas about how to prevent future tragedies.

Primary care physicians can manage the vast majority of children with in-toeing disorders. Only a few require casting or surgery, but be careful because about 15% actually have another diagnosis, according to a recent study.

When parents’ religious or spiritual beliefs prevent children from getting necessary medical care, pediatricians should intervene and report the parents to state child protective services agencies for medical abuse and neglect, reiterates a new policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Many youngsters, particularly those who are obese, use the calorie information that often is available at fast food and chain restaurants to determine what menu items to order.

Your V2.0 pediatric practice should be officially credentialed as a patient-centered medical home, but even practices that aren’t accredited can still provide exceptional care.

If federal funding expires, states may opt to reduce eligibility or eliminate programs in 2020.

A healthy adolescent boy asks you to cure an itchy and painful rash on the nape of his neck that began over a year ago when he switched barbers. What’s your diagnosis?

As innate as admiring a new baby and congratulating the parents when we enter the room, our tendency as pediatricians to palpate the anterior fontanel when we meet an infant, the “pediatrician’s handshake,” is universal. Why do we do this?

About 23% of almost 1,500 parents surveyed while in the waiting rooms of 19 primary care pediatric practices reported that they had used a retail clinic (RC), such as those found at Walgreens and CVS, for their child’s care.

Physicians often empirically prescribe antibiotics for urinary tract infections (UTIs) without conducting urine testing (urinalysis or culture), according to a retrospective study of 40,603 treated UTI episodes in youngsters aged up to 18 years.

Children of persistent smokers are much more likely to smoke.

With day-spanning sessions such as “Building Brains, Forging Futures,” this year’s American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2013 National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida, represented a robust airing of data and developments from the pediatric front. In this report, Contemporary Pediatrics brings you highlights from the AAP meeting by key therapeutic area.

A wide range of cardiovascular signs and symptoms present to the pediatrician’s office, and clinician knowledge of key “red flags” alerting them to a higher likelihood of significant pathology or more urgent need for subspecialty referral is paramount.

Garey Noritz, MD, presented information on a clinical algorithm developed by the AAP to help guide pediatricians on screening and workup of children with suspected motor delays.

Adolescents evolve from child to young adult without the maturity of adulthood to help them navigate the transition, particularly when it comes to the perils of substance use and addiction. Pediatricians who care for transitional-aged youth with substance use disorders have new paradigms that have shown promise for treating addiction and its accompanying comorbidities and for sustaining recovery over time.

New practice guidelines for managing childhood sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) were highlighted by Michael Schechter, MD, on behalf of Carole Marcus, MBBCh. The presentation ”Clinical Practice Guideline Update: Diagnosis and Management of Childhood Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS)” reviewed the 2012 update to the previous 2002 AAP Clinical Practice Guideline intended for use by primary care clinicians for the diagnosis and management of childhood OSAS.

“Almost 1 in 4 children between 3 and 11 years of age in the United States lives in a household with a smoker, so ongoing efforts are needed to prevent exposure in utero, infancy, and childhood to the detrimental effects of secondhand smoke (SHS) and thirdhand tobacco smoke,” stated Sharon McGrath-Morrow, MD.

Sickle cell trait (SCT) is the most common genetic order in the United States, affecting 5% to 6% of Hispanics, 10% of persons of African origin, 2% of Asians, and 1% of northern Greeks. Worldwide, 5.5 million people are estimated to carry SCT, and the World Health Organization estimates that in 2008, 3% of pregnant women were carriers. Despite this prevalence, most SCT carriers are unaware they carry the trait.

Pediatricians can be a first-line resource for grieving families, according to David J. Schonfeld, MD. They should be able to support children who are grieving by understanding how children respond to loss and what they, as physicians, can do to support their patients.

Acute otitis media (AOM) and acute bacterial sinusitis (ABM) are 2 of the most common infections affecting young children. They are also 2 of the most frequent medications for antibiotic therapy in a pediatric practice, and, as such, have been the focus of scrutiny as a source of antibiotic overuse.

Pediatricians have a critical role in addressing childhood overweight and obesity. However, their success in achieving positive outcomes with individual patients depends on the spoken and unspoken messages delivered during the clinical encounter.

Management of atopic dermatitis is always a topic of key interest for pediatricians because of the prevalence of this dermatologic disorder, its chronic nature, and its negative impact on quality of life.

Laboratory tests are not very helpful when trying to determine whether a child with musculoskeletal complaints has any of the rheumatic diseases of childhood, and using adult models to evaluate these children is equally ineffective.

The biologic agent adalimumab provides effective control of acute inflammatory activity in most children with steroid-resistant refractory noninfectious uveitis, but the beneficial effects tend to dissipate with time, according to results from a small study.