Pediatrics News and Research

Latest Pediatrics News and Research

Newer iodine-containing contrast agents safe for children

Allergic-like reactions to newer iodine-containing contrast agents (nonionic contrast media), are rare in children according to a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan Medical Center and C.S. Mott Children's Hospital both in Ann Arbor.

8 Jun 2007

Growth in ADHD medication use due to improved ADHD identification in adult and female patients

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been traditionally viewed as a childhood disorder, while ADHD in adults has been underdiagnosed and undertreated.

8 Jun 2007

Infant swimming lessons may not be such a good idea

Belgian researchers are suggesting that the chlorine in swimming pools may have an adverse effect on children's lungs.

5 Jun 2007

Steroid use among teen girls

Steroid use among teen girls is not limited to those involved in competitive athletics and is associated with a cluster of other health-harming behaviors, including smoking and taking diet pills, according to results of a national survey published in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

5 Jun 2007

Directly observed HIV therapy for children is promising

Directly observed antiretroviral therapy is a promising strategy to ensure that HIV-infected children in developing countries take life-saving medications, new research from The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University shows.

3 Jun 2007

FDA approves Norditropin for short stature in children with Noonan syndrome

Novo Nordisk has announced that Norditropin (somatropin[rDNA origin] injection) received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the treatment of short stature in children with Noonan syndrome.

3 Jun 2007

How well do you know your child's pediatrician?

How well do you know your child's pediatrician? Is he or she board certified in pediatrics, or has he or she ever completed specialty training in the field?

1 Jun 2007

Once-fatal metabolic disorders treatable

People with a class of rare genetic disorders that often lead to brain damage, coma and death can be successfully treated with drugs, says a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

1 Jun 2007

Interventions for pediatricians only partially successful

Continuing medical education, newsletters and resource guides were only partially successful in changing the way that pediatricians handled behavioral health problems, according to a follow-up study at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

1 Jun 2007

Uncontrolled asthma is highly prevalent

A survey of 1,812 patients with moderate-to-severe asthma revealed that the disease was not controlled in 55 percent, despite the fact that most had health insurance and visited their health care providers regularly.

1 Jun 2007

Treatment for urea cycle disorders proves its worth 25 years later

The simple notion of copying the body's own natural "waste disposal" chemistry to mop up potentially toxic nitrogen has saved an estimated 80 percent of patients with urea cycle disorders --- most of them children, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine summarizing a quarter century of experience with the treatment.

1 Jun 2007

Overdiagnosis of congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS)

Congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS) can be lethal if not diagnosed -- yet recent increased awareness of the disorder may lead to diagnosing patients when they don't have the syndrome and then prescribing treatments that restrict patients' lifestyles, a new Mayo Clinic study shows.

1 Jun 2007

Advances in epilepsy treatment

Epilepsy and seizures affect 2.5 million Americans, 181,000 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed every year, and the disorder incurs an estimated $12.5 billion in annual direct and indirect costs.

1 Jun 2007

Interventions for Pediatricians only partially successful

30 May 2007

Most pediatric chemotherapy mistakes reach patients

The vast majority of chemotherapy errors identified in children reach patients, according to one of the first epidemiological studies of cancer drug errors in children.

28 May 2007

New method predicts hip joint decay from chemotherapy

St. Jude investigators say they have found the best way for predicting when patients will need future surgery to repair hip joints that have deteriorated because of pediatric leukemia or lymphoma treatment.

27 May 2007

Fate of premature babies may be decided by which hospital they are born in

According to researchers in the U.S. premature babies have a better chance of surviving if they are cared for at specialist centers rather than at small hospitals.

25 May 2007

Very-low-birth-weight newborns face higher risk of death at community hospitals

More than 20 percent of very small babies who died in California between 1991 and 2000 might have lived had they been born in different hospitals, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

24 May 2007

University of Alabama at Birmingham opens adult Down Syndrome clinic

UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) has opened one of the few clinics in the nation dedicated to providing services to adult patients with Down Syndrome.

24 May 2007

U.S. parents not in favor of HPV vaccine mandates

While debate in several state governments continues to grow over school mandates for Gardasil – a vaccine recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for girls ages 11 to 12 that is designed to provide protection against human papillomavirus, or HPV, the virus linked to cervical cancer and genital warts – the majority of U.S. parents have already reached a decision on the issue: They do not want the vaccine to be mandated.

24 May 2007