Child Health News

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First Edition: September 21, 2010

In today's headlines, news about major insurers' plans to stop offering child-only health policies in advance of new rules.

21 Sep 2010

Young victims of cyber bullying more likely to suffer from depression

Young victims of electronic or cyber bullying — which occurs online or by cell phone — are more likely to suffer from depression than their tormentors are, a new study finds.

21 Sep 2010

Research finds differences between immigrant and native families on child maltreatment

Research funded by the American Humane Association has identified significant differences between immigrant families and native families regarding risk factors for child maltreatment.

21 Sep 2010

Bedwetting increases during start of school period

Bedwetting perennially drives parents to the pediatric urology clinic at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, but September — and the start of the school year — always brings a predictable uptick in visits, according to pediatric urologist Ming-Hsien Wang, M.D.

21 Sep 2010

South Carolina optometrists provide eye, vision assessments for infants through InfantSEE

Due to the overwhelming number of children with eye and vision problems across the United States, South Carolina optometrists are devoting appointments to no-cost, comprehensive eye and vision assessments for infants between six to 12 months of age through InfantSEE.

21 Sep 2010

Over 10% of children falsely identified as having noise induced hearing loss

New research from University of Minnesota hearing scientists shows that fewer than 20 percent of teenagers in the United States have a hearing loss as a result of exposure to loud sounds, thus offering a different analysis of data reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in August.

21 Sep 2010

Bariatric surgery rates rise among adolescents

According to recent surveys more and more adolescents need bariatric surgery for morbid obesity. This procedure was earlier reserved only for adults. Researchers say that from 2005 to 2007, the rate of gastric banding has jumped nearly seven-fold among youths aged 13 to 20. The process involves placement of a band around the upper part of the stomach using a laparoscope. The study appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

21 Sep 2010

Childhood obesity linked to common cold virus

A new study has shown that obese children are more prone to carrying a common cold virus than slimmer children. The virus in question is adenovirus 36 and if the link is true then someday new obesity treatments might be tailored to attack the virus to treat or prevent childhood obesity. Childhood obesity affects 17% of American children and adolescents. The report appeared in the journal Pediatrics.

21 Sep 2010

Methylphenidate drug prescriptions are on the rise

Hyperkinetic disorders among children and adolescents are becoming increasingly common. In the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Ingrid Schubert of the PMV Research Group at the University of Cologne and her colleagues address the question how this has affected the frequency of prescriptions for methylphenidate, a stimulant drug that is used to treat such disorders.

21 Sep 2010

HHS efforts to enroll more kids clash with struggling state budgets

The Department of Health and Human Services' efforts to enroll more eligible children in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program "are being hurt by the financial reality of state budgets," American Medical News reports.

21 Sep 2010

Biomarkers may help predict children at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes

Children who have a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes might be identified earlier by way of tell-tale genetic indicators known as biomarkers. Some of those new biomarkers might be pinpointed in research led by Nancy F. Butte and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's National Institutes of Health.

20 Sep 2010

Head-circumference charts for infants and toddlers may be inaccurate

The most common charts used by pediatricians to measure head growth in infants and toddlers may be inaccurate, potentially leading to delayed diagnoses, unnecessary tests, and parental worry, according to new research from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

20 Sep 2010

Hain Celestial launches Earth's Best, Zhi Ling Tong organic infant products in China

The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.,a leading natural and organic products company providing consumers with A Healthy Way of Life, today announced the launch of its co-branded Earth's Best and Zhi Ling Tong organic infant formula in China through its Hutchison Hain Organic Holdings Limited ("Hutchison Hain Organic") joint venture.

20 Sep 2010

Manganese in water can harm children’s IQ: Study

A team of researchers led by Maryse Bouchard, adjunct professor at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology, Health, Environment and Society (CINBIOSE) of the Universit du Qu-bec Montr-al and a researcher at Sainte Justine University Hospital, and Donna Mergler, professor emerita in the Department of Biological Sciences and a member of CINBIOSE, recently completed a study showing that children exposed to high concentrations of manganese in drinking water performed worse on tests of intellectual functioning than children with lower exposures.

20 Sep 2010

H1N1 influenza increases neurological complications in children: Study

A recent study by researchers at the University of Utah determined that the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) caused a higher rate of neurological complications in children than the seasonal flu. The most common complications observed were seizures and encephalopathy.

20 Sep 2010

Adenovirus exposure may cause obesity in children: Study

The emerging idea that obesity may have an infectious origin gets new support in a cross-sectional study by University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researchers who found that children exposed to a particular strain of adenovirus were significantly more likely to be obese.

20 Sep 2010

Whooping cough on the rise in California

Whooping cough is on the rise in California and the number infected has reached a 55-year high, including nine infant deaths, eight of them Hispanics. There have been more than 4,000 confirmed, probable or suspected cases this year, the most reported since 1955.

19 Sep 2010

Children's Wish to receive over $100,000 cheque as donation from Team Wishful Thinking

The Children's Wish Foundation of Canada will be waiting at the finish line today for Team Wishful Thinking, one of the competing teams in the Targa Newfoundland Race. Children's Wish is there to cheer on the team and gratefully accept the over $100,000 cheque Team Wishful Thinking has raised in support of Children's Wish.

18 Sep 2010

Tips to keep students healthy, from brain to body

With kids back in school, good health starts with clean hands. Now that the new school year has begun, many moms are looking for an extra hand to help keep their kids healthy and reduce sick days. In fact, elementary school students who do not use proper hand hygiene will miss more school than those that do employ good hand-washing habits, according to an American Journal of Infection Control study.

18 Sep 2010

Study finds mothers' education levels affect child mortality

A study published in the journal Lancet on Friday found that "a mother's education level has a huge, if indirect, effect on the health of her children," the Washington Post reports.

18 Sep 2010