News

The start of school means an increase in questions about vaccine safety from parents who need to update their children?s immunizations. Just in time, FDA has archived materials that pediatricians can use to reassure parents of the safety of the recommended vaccine schedule. Read how to access these materials and others that might be helpful.

Research has found that the ?accident hump? for boys is trending downward into younger years. With physical maturity occurring earlier than ever, pediatricians should warn parents that their sons? deeper voices may mean more, not less, supervision.

Pediatricians have a considerably lower-than-average probability of being sued for malpractice compared with most specialties, but when plaintiffs prevail, their mean payouts are the highest of any physicians, according to a recent study. The mean indemnity payment for pediatricians was $520,923, almost twice as much as the mean for all physicians. But there?s good news too: read the study results and get the complete picture.

Here?s some new information that can help when you?re determining whom to screen for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: ADHD prevalence has increased to 10% for children with family income less than 100% of the poverty level and to 11% for those with family income between 100% and 199% of the poverty level compared with a 7% to 9% overall increase, according to a National Center for Health Statistics report. Read more to find out what other indicators were linked with above-average increases in the disorder?s prevalence.

With influenza being one of the most common reasons for hospitalization of children, finding the most effective vaccination combination is increasingly important. That?s what researchers recently set out to do, finding that although the live attenuated influenza vaccine nasal spray and trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine shots are effective, only the nasal spray may confer additional immunity. Could a change in guidelines be on the horizon?

A brief review of a mother?s pregnancy history, including miscarriages and birth defects, may help in screenin for brain tumors. A recent study found that children whose mothers have had 2 or more late miscarriages have 3 times the risk of developing central nervous system (CNS) tumors. Birth defects also correlate with increased risk of CNS tumors.

Two new asthma studies include some practical advice that pediatricians can share with parents. One concerns mold in the home, which can lead to asthma development. Another study offers advice on using air cleaners to control asthma symptoms.

Family history is more important than previously thought in autism spectrum disorder, and pediatricians should consider early intervention for infant siblings of children with autism if any concerns arise about their development, according to new research. The largest prospective investigation of autism spectrum disorder and sibling recurrence to date uncovered surprisingly high occurrence of autism, especially when more than 1 older sibling had the disorder.

For many pediatricians, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) may be the oral antibiotic of choice when a patient presents with a community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus skin infection, but another drug?clindamycin?may actually work better, according to a new study. Find out why the experts recommend clindamycin, even though there seemed to be good reasons to prescribe TMP-SMX.

If a child has a genetic risk of developing a common, treatable?or preventable?disease, should he or she be told? Here are some tips on how you should approach this topic with your patients and their parents.

Electrocardiograms used to screen athletes for sports participation were misinterpreted more than 30% of the time by pediatric cardiologists participating in a recent study. Read here for help in using this screening tool for teen athletes.

Telling parents to have their children take 2 Tylenol and call you in the morning may soon be safer than ever. The FDA is asking drug makers to voluntarily adopt recommendations to make children?s medicines containing acetaminophen safer to use. The industry has complied, phasing out some formulations and changing dosage recommendations. Find out what will now be available.

Less than 30% of FDA-approved medications have been studied in children, despite regulatory requirements and study incentives implemented by FDA over the past 15 years. One reason is parents' lack of awareness of opportunities for children to participate in medical research. Now, new tools can help pediatricians educate parents and increase children?s participation in clinical trials.

Failure to appropriately control severe asthma in children not only has a critical effect on their health but also affects their educational achievement. It also doubles the health care costs related to their disease, according to a new study. Researchers found that children with ?very poorly controlled? asthma missed an average of 18 days of school each year, compared with 2 or fewer for other asthma patients. The economic effect was dramatic, even compared with children with ?not well controlled? asthma.

A few minutes spent interpreting results of a brief questionnaire can help pediatricians identify up to 82% of children with developmental delays, according to a recent Canadian study. The screening tools identified development delay in 10% of the children and were matched against a full battery of psychological tests. Find out what tests were used and in what age ranges they were most accurate.

Against the backdrop of a record-breaking hot and humid summer many states have experienced and the beginning of school, or at least football practice, new guidance is available to pediatricians about which youths could be cleared for athletic participation in these conditions. New study results have been released, and the AAP has issued a new policy statement that adds a BMI above the 85th percentile for age, as well as other conditions, to the risk factors for heat-related illness for children and adolescents. Read more to see what the new indications are.

Although Medicaid and CHIP were considered off limits during the original debt-ceiling deal, the landscape has since tilted precipitously with more bad economic news: S&P?s recent downgrade of US debt adds fear and strain to the uncertainty about the future of these programs. A bipartisan congressional ?super committee? is saddled with recommending as much as $1.5 trillion in federal budget cuts over the next 10 years. Medicaid and CHIP were intended to be off the table during the negotiations, but now providers? payments may be at risk.

Pediatricians trying to meet the government mandate to implement electronic prescribing also struggle with another issue: How to safely round dosages up or down. Now, an easy-to-adopt solution can remedy that problem. Here?s how to get the recommended rounding tolerances for 102 commonly prescribed drugs.

The CDC held meetings this summer on adding a new infant vaccine to its list of recommendations, but those gatherings frequently turned into a forum on the overall issue of immunizations, with both supporters and detractors having their say. Read here to see where they stand on the meningococcal vaccine now.

Researchers conducted a study to examine changes in the rates of chronic conditions of extremely low-birth-weight children aged between 8 and 14 years and found some surprising results, especially when it comes to obesity. Our experts offer advice to pediatricians whose practice includes these patients.

Both the AAP and the American Heart Association recommend that children who are at risk for dyslipidemia have a fasting cholesterol check, but denying food to children, who may not understand what is going on, is different than an adult who foregoes morning coffee until after the blood work. Find out why a new study suggests that fasting may not always be necessary.

Perennial concerns about whether cell phones cause brain cancer often focus on children and adolescents. In the first-of-its-kind study, Swiss researchers found that answer is no, and they also offer some advice to parents who are anxious.

Diagnosing allergic diseases : Why knowing the history is as important as the test Managing vomiting : Should I consider options besides rehydration? Puzzler : Dressing up as fever and a rash Dermcase : Lesions expand at blistering speed in baby boy

Meeting the challenge of relieving chronic pain in America will require a cultural transformation in the way pain is perceived and managed on personal and social levels, according to an IOM report.

Investigators conducted a comparative examination of the practice of early resuscitation with saline or albumin fluid boluses in children with shock and life-threatening infections living in settings with limited resources.

Children in whom a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes is missed during a first medical consultation have a 3-fold increased risk of presenting later in diabetic ketoacidosis, according to UK researchers.

Treating a vomiting child is a challenge, especially when the cause is unknown.

Although evidence shows that breastfeeding prevents childhood obesity and reduces a mother's risk for breast and ovarian cancers, many hospitals in the United States fail to support breastfeeding.