Important pediatric news

Strategies unveiled to manage teen diabetes

In response to the rising rate of type 2 diabetes among adolescents, the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) has introduced resources to help them manage the disease. Approximately 154,000 youth under age 20 have type 2 diabetes.

A pediatric pandemic flu plan The time is now

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) unveiled a report stating that children and adolescents from birth to 19 years of age account for almost half of all H5N1 flu deaths.

"Pandemic Influenza: Warning, Children At-Risk" raises concerns and identifies gaps in US preparedness for treating pediatric patients in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak. Specifically, four crucial points were highlighted: the need for child-appropriate doses of vaccine and medications, management and treatment of children who contract influenza, factoring children into community strategies to slow the spread of infection, and caring for children in the event it becomes necessary to close schools and childcare facilities.

Some of the initiatives endorsed by AAP and TFAH are:

The complete report is available at http:// http://www.healthyamericans.org/, or http://www.aap.org/.

More "Zs" may prevent overweight

Researchers found an association between the amount of sleep a child gets and his/her weight. Parental reports of sleep habits and the body mass index (BMI) of 785 third graders were recorded, and then repeated in sixth grade. Fifty-one percent of the children were male, 18% were overweight in sixth grade, and most (81%) were white. Overweight was defined as a BMI of ≥95th percentile for age and gender. Maternal education, race, type of home environment, and parenting skills were assessed.

Sixth graders who slept less than 8.5 hours a night had a 23% rate of obesity. Those who averaged more than 9.25 hours of sleep had an obesity rate of 12%. Third graders who slept less had higher rates of overweight by grade 6, regardless of their weight in grade 3 (Pediatrics 2007;120:1020).