Pediatrics
21 Nov Smoking Cessation Key To Improving Quality of Life in Asthmatic Adolescents
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Wanjun Cui, MS PhD Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Authors’ response: Asthma is a leading chronic disease among adolescents that adversely affects their health. However, it is unclear how asthma influences their perceived health or health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Because their perceptions of their health may differ from those of their caregivers (such as parents or health professionals), knowing how adolescents with asthma would rate their own health is very important. Our study compares the responses of adolescents with and without asthma about different aspects of HRQOL including their overall health, their recent physical health, their recent mental health, and their recent activity limitations due to health. Unlike previous U.S. studies based on small clinical samples, our study used a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents that can be generalized to the whole U.S. adolescent population. We found that asthma is adversely associated with almost all these aspects of HRQOL but only among those with asthma and current symptoms such as wheezing and dry cough. Adolescents with asthma without current symptoms did not report significantly worse HRQOL than those without asthma. For example, compared with those who never had asthma, adolescents with asthma and symptoms of dry cough or wheezing reported significantly more fair or poor self-rated health (14% vs. 8%), 34% more recent physically unhealthy days , and 26% more recent mentally unhealthy days. More importantly, adolescents with asthma who currently smoked cigarettes or reported limited physical functioning reported even worse physical and mental HRQOL.20 Nov Childhood Skin Prick Allergies Remain Predictive of Future Allergies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maria Pesonen MD, PhD Specialist in Dermatology Assistant Chief Medical Officer Finnish Institute of Occupational Health Occupational Medicine Helsinki, Finland Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Pesonen: Skin prick test is a widely used, established methods in assessing immediate (i.e. immunoglobulin E-mediated) sensitization. However, the knowledge on long-term reproducibility and predictive value of skin prick testing in children has been limited. We assessed the predictive value of skin prick testing in the setting of a follow-up study on healthy, unselected newborns, who were followed up to age 20 years with skin prick testing with 11 common allergens, structured interview and clinical examination at ages 5, 11 and 20 years. The reproducibility of skin prick test positivity at age 5 years was 100% at ages 11 and 20 years, i.e. none of the skin prick positive subjects turned negative during the follow-up. Gaining of new sensitizations to aeroallergens was common. Skin prick test positivity at age 5 years predicted allergic symptoms at ages 11 (sensitivity 28%, specificity 94%) and 20 years (sensitivity 23%, specificity 91%), but not atopic dermatitis.19 Nov Early Use of Caffeine In Premature Infants
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Abhay Lodha, MBBS, MD, DM, MSC
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary,
Staff Neonatologist and Clinical Epidemiologist, Section of Neonatology, Alberta Health Services, Chairman, CME
Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Lodha: Apneic episodes (cessation of breathing) occur in the premature infants. Caffeine is the most commonly used medication for apnea of prematurity. Normally caffeine started on day 3 of life for apnea. However, there is no strong evidence that starting caffeine on day 1 or 2 life has some extra advantages in premature infants. Our study has a large number of premature infants. Our study determined the association of early initiation of caffeine therapy in very preterm neonates and neonatal outcomes.
The main finding of our study was that early use of caffeine was associated with a reduction in the rate of death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia and patent ductus arteriosus. We did not find any adverse impact on any other outcomes.
16 Nov Maternal Obesity Increases Congenital Kidney/Urinary Anomalies in Offspring
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ian R. Macumber MD Pediatric Nephrology, Seattle Children's Hospital Seattle, Washington Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Macumber: The main finding is that there is a strong association between maternal obesity and odds of congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT) in offspring. This relationship remains strong when looking at offspring with renal malformation (excluding non-renal congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract), or in offspring with isolated congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (no congenital anomalies elsewhere in the body). There is a dose-response relationship to this association, with the offspring of extremely obese mothers have even higher odds of having congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract.15 Nov Tdap Vaccination Safety During Pregnancy Studied
MedicalResearch.com Interview
Elyse O. Kharbanda MD MPH
HealthPartners Medical and Dental Group
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Kharbanda: In 2010, due to a pertussis outbreak and neonatal deaths, the California Department of Public Health recommended that the Tdap vaccine be administered during pregnancy. Tdap is now recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) for all pregnant women during each pregnancy. We wanted to assess the impact of this recommendation.
The main findings were that Tdap vaccination during pregnancy was not associated with increased risk for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preterm birth, or having a baby who is small for his or her gestational age.
The study found a small increased risk for being diagnosed with chorioamnionitis, an inflammation of the fetal membranes caused by bacterial infection. These findings should be interpreted with caution as the magnitude of the risk was small. In addition, there was no associated risk for preterm birth, which often occurs as a result of chorioamnionitis. Furthermore, among the subset of women with a chorioamnionitis diagnosis whose charts were reviewed, many did not have a clinical picture that was clearly consistent with chorioamnionitis.
11 Nov Laundry Detergent Pods Can Be Lethal To Kids
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Marcel J Casavant MD FACEP FACMT
Chief of Toxicology, Nationwide Children's Hospita
Medical Director, Central Ohio Poison Center
Clinical Professor, The Ohio State University Colleges of Medicine & Pharmacy
Columbus OH USA 43205-2696
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Casavant: Laundry detergent pods reached the US market shelves in early 2012; almost immediately parents started calling poison control centers about their children’s exposures to these products. Since then the CDC, the CPSC, the American Association of Poison Centers, and others have issued warnings about these products. Several papers and numerous abstracts have described injuries to various groups of children; we therefore chose to analyze and describe what happened to all US children with exposure to one of these products reported to a poison control center in 2012 and 2013. The main finding: these products are dangerous to children! Over those two years we found more than 17,000 young children exposed to pods, more than 6,000 seen in an emergency department, more than 700 admitted to a hospital, and among these, more than half required intensive care. Two young children died, both in 2013. Our study was published online on November 10, 2014 (http://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/Pages/Laundry-Detergent-Pods-Can-Be-a-Serious-Poisoning-Risk-in-Children.aspx) and will appear in the December 2014 print edition of Pediatrics (volume 134 number 6).
07 Nov Childhood Pneumococcal Vaccine Linked To Sharp Decline In Hospitalizations
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Marie R Griffin MD MPH
Director, Vanderbilt MPH Program
Department of Health Policy Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville TN 37212
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Griffin: In Tennessee, the introduction in 2010 of a new pneumococcal vaccine for infants and young children was associated with a 27 percent decline in pneumonia hospital admissions across the state among children under age 2. The recent decline in Tennessee comes on top of an earlier 43 percent decline across the United States associated with the introduction in 2000 of the first pneumococcal vaccine for children under 2 years of age.
06 Nov Low Birth Weight Linked To Increased Adult Hip Replacement Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Professor Flavia Cicuttin
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Monash University and Alfred Hospital
Melbourne, Australia
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Prof. Cicuttin: Previous research found that low birth weight and preterm birth have been linked to hypertension, cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and reduced bone mass in adulthood. Given these adverse outcomes related to birth weight and preterm birth we set out to investigate if low birth weight and preterm birth also played a role in increase risk of joint replacement surgery as adults.
We found that low birth weight and preterm birth were associated with a 2-fold increased risk of hip but not knee replacement surgery.
05 Nov Fussy Eating Linked To Constipation in Preschoolers
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anne Tharner, PhD and Jessica C. Kiefte-de Jong, PhD Department of Epidemiology Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam The Netherlands Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Constipation is one of the most common health problems in children, and occurs in most cases without organic reason. In our study, we examined if fussy eating behavior might be related to constipation in children. “Fussy eaters” are children who reject specific foods – often (green and bitter) vegetables – and often compensate this with the intake of less healthy but highly palatable foods (such as fast food or sweets). This kind of diet might be one of the reasons for constipation in children, but at the same time, children might develop difficult eating patterns due to digestive problems such as constipation. Therefore, we examined whether fussy eating and functional constipation mutually affect each other, which might point to the development of a vicious cycle. We examined this in a large study including almost 5000 children aged 2-6 years who participated in a longitudinal study in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Families were regularly followed up starting in pregnancy. Our main finding was that fussy eating co-exists with functional constipation and also predicts subsequent development of functional constipation. In addition, we also found evidence for the reverse, as functional constipation predicted subsequent fussy eating behavior. Together with previous studies, our findings suggest that indeed a vicious cycle may develop throughout childhood in which children’s constipation problems and problematic eating behavior mutually affect each other. On the one hand, fussy eating might affect the development of functional constipation via poor dietary quality which is a characteristic for the diet of fussy eaters. On the other hand, our findings show that functional constipation in also predicts future fussy eating. This pathway is less well studied, but it is conceivable that children with constipation and the accompanying abdominal pain and painful defecation may develop problematic eating behavior.05 Nov Aerobic and/or Resistance Exercise Improves Fitness and Body Composition
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Angela Alberga, PhD Eyes High Postdoctoral Fellow Werklund School of Education University of Calgary Ronald J. Sigal, MD, MPH, FRCPC Professor of Medicine, Kinesiology, Cardiac Sciences and Community Health Sciences Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary Health Senior Scholar, Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions Member, O'Brien Institute of Public Health, Libin Cardiovascular Institute and Julia McFarlane Diabetes Research Centre Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: The Healthy Eating, Aerobic and Resistance Training in Youth study examined the effects of exercise on body composition and cardiometabolic risk markers in adolescents with obesity. A total of 304 overweight or obese adolescents were randomized to four groups. The first group performed resistance training involving weight machines and some free weights; the second performed only aerobic exercise on treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bikes; the third underwent combined aerobic and resistance training; and the last group did no exercise training. All four groups received nutritional counseling. In analyses involving all participants regardless of adherence, each exercise program reduced percent body fat, waist circumference and body mass index to a similar extent, while the diet-only control group had no changes in these variables. In participants who exercised at least 2.8 times per week, we found that combined aerobic and resistance training produced greater decreases in percentage body fat, waist circumference, and body mass index than aerobic training alone. Waist circumference decreased close to seven centimeters in adherent participants randomized to combined aerobic plus resistance exercise, versus about four centimeters in those randomized to do just one type of exercise, with no change in those randomized to diet alone.27 Oct Agave Offers Placebo Effect For Cough In Young Children
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ian M. Paul, M.D., M.Sc. Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences Chief, Division of Academic General Pediatrics Associate Vice Chair for Research, Department of Pediatrics Penn State College of Medicine Hershey, PA 17033-0850 Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Paul: This study highlights that a significant placebo effect exists in the treatment of young children with cough due to colds because agave nectar and placebo both resulted in improvement of child symptoms by parents compared with no treatment.24 Oct 25% Infants Do Not Receive Vaccinations On Recommended Schedule
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Louise-Anne McNutt, PhD
Associate Director, Institute for Health and the Environment
University at Albany, State University of New York
Jessica Nadeau, PhD
Epidemiologist, University at Albany, State University of New York
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Response: The study found that about 25% of infants consistently deviated from the routine vaccine schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Alterations included either consistently refusing a recommended vaccine or reducing the number of vaccines given at each visit.
These deviations are generally associated with intent to use an alternative vaccination schedule.
Infants who did not follow the AAP recommended schedule were more likely to be unprotected against vaccine preventable diseases for a longer period of time. Only 1 in10 infants vaccinated on an alternative schedule were up-to-date at 9 months of age.
23 Oct Faster Weight Gain in Infancy Predicts Adult Obesity
MedicalResearch.com Interview Invitation
Dr Ken Ong, Programme Leader & Paediatric Endocrinologist
MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge
Box 285 Institute of Metabolic Science
Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge
Medical Research: What are the main findings of this report?
Dr. Ong: We found that genetic factors that predict adult obesity were associated with faster weight gain and growth during infancy – the findings indicate that the biological mechanisms that predispose to later obesity are already active from birth.
22 Oct Cow’s Milk May Be Protective Against Childhood Infections
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Georg Loss, PhD
Dr. von Hauner Children’s Hospital
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich
Munich, Germany
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Loss: In this large population based cohort study we observed that consumption of fresh unprocessed cow’s milk protected from respiratory infections, febrile illness and inflammation of the middle ear during the first year of life. The risk of developing these conditions was reduced by up to 30%, and the effect was diminished if the milk was heated at home before consumption. Conventionally pasteurized milk retained the ability to reduce the risk of febrile illness, while exposure to the higher temperatures used in UHT (Ultra-heat-treatment) processing eliminated the effect altogether. Importantly, the positive impact of fresh milk could be clearly separated from the confounding effects of other elements of the children’s nutrition. Furthermore, infants fed on unprocessed milk were found to have lower levels of the C-reactive protein, which is a measure of inflammation status.
22 Oct Vitamin D Levels Lower In Children Who Drink Non-Cow’s Milk
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Jonathon Maguire MD MSc FRCPC
Pediatrician and Scientist Department of Pediatrics
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute
St. Michael’s Hospital University of Toronto
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Maguire: One of the main health benefits of cow’s milk is vitamin D. We were interested to know if non-cow’s milk supports children’s vitamin D blood levels as well as cow’s milk.
20 Oct In Home Medication Errors Common Among Young Children
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Dr. Huiyun Xiang, MD, MPH, PhD
Center for Injury Research and Policy
The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio
Jeb Phillips, BA
Project Specialist, Injury Research and Policy Staff
Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Response: From 2002-2012, a child younger than 6 years old experienced an out-of-hospital medication error every 8 minutes. That’s a total of 696,937 during the study period, or 63,358 per year. Almost all happened at the child’s residence. The rate and number of errors decreased with increasing age.
Analgesics were the mostly commonly involved medications (25.2%), followed by cough and cold medications (24.6%). More than 1 in 4 (27%) of the errors happened when a child inadvertently took or was given medication twice. Errors also happened when children took or were given an incorrect dose, when medication measurements were confused, and when the wrong medication was taken or given.
07 Oct Sexting Teens More Likely Sexually Active
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jeff R. Temple, PhD
Associate Professor and Psychologist
Director, Behavioral Health and Research
Department of Ob/Gyn
UTMB Health Galveston, TX 77555-0587
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Temple: Through previous research, we know that teen sexting is related to actual sexual behaviors, but we did not have any information on the temporal link between these two behaviors.
In short, we found that teens who sexted had 32% higher odds of being sexually active over the next year relative to youth who did not sext – this was even after controlling for history of prior sexual behavior, ethnicity, gender, and age. We also found that active sexting (actually sending a naked picture to another teen) mediated the relationship between passive sexting (asking for or being asked for a sext) and sexual behaviors. In other words, while sending a sext was predictive of subsequent sexual behavior, asking for/being asked for a sext was only associated with sexual behavior through its relationship with active sexting.
03 Oct Fast Growth After Preterm Birth Linked To Persistent Neurocognitive Ability
MedicalResearch.com Interview,
Sara Sammallahti, MA
Institute of Behavioral Sciences
University of Helsinki, Finland.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Not only did we find that faster growth right after preterm birth is
associated with better neurocognitive abilities - we also showed that
these effects persist into adulthood, that they are seen across a wide
spectrum of abilities, and that head growth very early on seems
especially relevant in predicting long-term outcomes. These
associations were found when we examined 103 young adults who were
born prematurely and with very low birth weight (under 1500 grams).
24 Sep Millions of US Children Do Not Receive Key Health Care Preventive Services
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Lorraine Yeung
Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Yeung: In this report, we looked at the percentages of children who received various recommended clinical preventive services. We found that millions of infants, children, and adolescents in the U.S. did not receive key clinical preventive services.
This report provides a baseline snapshot of the use of 11 key clinical preventive services before or shortly after the Affordable Care Act went into effect. A focus of the Affordable Care Act is on improving prevention of illness and disability and it does so by requiring new health insurance plans to provide certain clinical preventive services at no additional cost — with no copays or deductibles. This is important because we know increasing the use of these services can improve children’s health and promote healthy lifestyles that will enable them to reach their full potential.
Some of the important findings in this report were:
In 2007, parents of almost eight in 10 (79 percent) children aged 10-47 months reported that they were not asked by healthcare providers to complete a formal screen for developmental delays in the past year.
In 2009, more than half (56 percent) of children and adolescents did not visit the dentist in the past year and nearly nine of 10 (86 percent) children and adolescents did not receive a dental sealant or a topical fluoride application in the past year.
Nearly half (47 percent) of females aged 13-17 years had not received their recommended first dose of HPV vaccine in 2011.
Approximately one in three (31 percent) outpatient clinic visits made by 11-21 year-olds during 2004–2010 had no documentation of tobacco use status; eight of 10 (80 percent) of those who screened positive for tobacco use did not receive any cessation assistance.
Approximately one in four (24 percent) outpatient clinic visits for preventive care made by 3-17 year olds during 2009-2010 had no documentation of blood pressure measurement.
17 Sep Does Magnesium Help Prevent Cerebral Palsy?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Lex W Doyle MD BS MSc FRACP
Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
The Royal Women’s Hospital
Parkville, Victoria, Australia
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Doyle: From collectively pooling data from five large trials carried out around the world over the past 20 years, we know that magnesium sulfate given under strict medical protocols in hospital to women threatening to deliver preterm reduces the risk of cerebral palsy in their children in early childhood. Following from this knowledge, magnesium sulfate is now given routinely to women, under strict medical conditions, who are threatening to deliver very early in Australia, and in other parts of the world, to try to prevent cerebral palsy in their child. What we do not know is if magnesium sulfate used this way has any longer-term effects on the brain or on other important outcomes.
One of the initial studies that contributed to the overall evidence about cerebral palsy was carried out in Australia and New Zealand and completed more than 10 years ago. Over 1000 women and their babies were enrolled in that study and although the rate of cerebral palsy was not substantially reduced by magnesium sulfate in our study, we showed that there were fewer children at 2 years of age who were not walking in the group whose mothers were given magnesium compared with those whose mothers were given placebo. With this knowledge, and given the unknown longer-term benefits or risks, we re-evaluated the children from our study at school-age, between 6-11 years of age. We thoroughly evaluated their brain function, including movement and co-ordination, thinking ability, behaviour, and school progress, as well as general health and well-being. The basic message from our longer-term study is that magnesium sulfate, as used in our trial, does not have any substantial benefits or harms on brain or cognitive function, or any other outcome at school age.
16 Sep Pediatric Cancer More Common In White, Male Adolescents from Northeast
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Jun Li, MD, PhD, MPH
Epidemiology and Applied Research Branch
Division of Cancer Prevention and Control
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Li: Using the 2001 to 2009 National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data, which represent 94.2% of the US population, we identified 120,137 pediatric cancer cases with an incidence rate of 171 cases per million children and adolescents.
Overall cancer incidence rates were stable from 2001-2009. However, we found rates were increasing significantly at 1.3% per year in African American children and adolescents. This increase might be partially attributed to the rise among renal tumors and thyroid cancer. We also found rising incidence in thyroid cancer and renal carcinoma among children and adolescents.
As has been previously established, pediatric cancer is more common in males, in white, in adolescents, and in the Northeast. Leukemia is the most common pediatric cancer, followed by central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms, and then lymphomas.
05 Sep How Well Do Fetal Ultrasound Measurement Predict Infant and Childhood Outcomes?
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Dr. Steve Turner
Child Health, Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital
Aberdeen,UK
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Turner: There is evidence that being small for a given gestational age is associated with a broad range of what could be loosely considered “disadvantageous” outcomes in early childhood, eg increased risk for wheeze, increased blood fat levels, increased blood pressure and low bone mineral density. Many of these outcomes are subclinical – ie unless they were measured no-one would be any the wiser – and what remains to be determined is whether as these individuals grow up these subclinical measurements become important. Follow up may take many years, decades for outcomes such as coronary artery disease and type II diabetes.
03 Sep Acid Reducing Medications May Increase Risk of Clostridium Difficile Infection
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cade M. Nylund, MD, MS, FAAP Major, United States Air Force, Medical Corps Assistant Professor of Pediatrics F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine Uniformed Services University Bethesda, Maryland27 Aug STDs Reduced in Young Girls Through Telephone Counseling
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Ralph Joseph Diclemente PhD
Behavoral Sciences & Health School Of Public Health
Emory University Atlanta Georgia
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. DiClemente: In our study of 701 African American girls we observed significant and durable reductions in laboratory-confirmed sexually transmitted infections (50% reduction in chlamydial infections and a 60% reduction in gonorrhea) among girls in our intervention group relative to the comparison condition over a 36-month follow-up period. In addition, we observed significant increases in condom use during sex and reductions in sex while using drugs or alcohol. The key finding is the durability of the results - 3 years in the life of an adolescent is a long period.
25 Aug Many Parents Who Refuse Infant Vitamin K Refuse All Vaccinations For Their Children
MedicalResearch.com interview with:
Dr. Shannon MacDonald PhD
Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary and
Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. MacDonald: We found that vitamin K was refused by only a very small number of parents in our study population (0.3%) but that the number appears to be increasing (almost doubling in the past 7 years). The parents that refused vitamin K for their child were more likely to be those that delivered at home and/or with a midwife. We also found that parents who refused vitamin K for their child were also much more likely to go on to refuse all vaccinations by 15 months of age.
20 Aug Quality Program Improved Outcomes in Neonatal ICUs
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Prakesh S Shah MSc, MBBS, MD, DCH, MRCP, FRCPC
Professor, Departments of Paediatrics and HPME
Mount Sinai Hospital and University of Toronto
CIHR Applied Research Chair in Reproductive and Child Health Services and Policy Research
Director, Canadian Neonatal Network
Toronto Ontario Canada M5G 1X5
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Shah: The main findings of our study are that by embracing collaborative quality improvement program in 25 of 28 Neonatal ICUs in the country, we were able to show significant reduction in adverse outcomes of necrotizing enterocolitis, severe retinopathy of prematurity and nosocomial infections among preterm neonates born at less than 29 weeks of gestation. This resulted in significant overall reduction of composite outcome of mortality or severe morbidities and improved overall outcomes over 3 years of study period.
19 Aug Pediatric Bronchiolitis: Improved Oxygen Saturation Reduced Hospitalizations
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Suzanne Schuh, MD, FRCP(C), FAAP, ABPEM
Staff Paediatrician, Division of Paediatric Emergency Medicine
Senior Associate Scientist, Research Institute, Hospital for Sick Children
Professor of Paediatrics, University of Toronto
Medical Research: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Schuh: Our study shows that in previously healthy infants presenting to the Emergency Department with mild to moderate bronchiolitis (a viral lower respiratory tract disease producing breathing distress) who had their oxygen saturation measurements artificially elevated by a physiologically small amount experienced significantly reduced rate of hospitalizations within 72 hours compared to infants with unaltered oximetry readings.
07 Aug Addressing Racial Disparities in Childhood Asthma
Medical Research Interview with: Lara J. Akinbami, MD Infant, Child and Women's Health Statistics Branch National Center for Health Statistics Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Hyattsville, MD 20782. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Akinbami : We analyzed national data to assess recent trends in racial disparities on childhood asthma...
01 Aug Private School Kids Less Likely To Receive All Vaccinations
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jana Shaw MD, MPH, FAAP
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Pediatric Infectious Diseases
SUNY Upstate Medical University
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, NY 13210
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Shaw: In this study, we looked at exemptions to school immunization requirements in the US during 2009-2010 school year. We found that private schools have higher rates for all types of exemptions (medical, religious, and personal belief/philosophical). In addition, states that permitted personal belief exemptions had higher rates of exemptions overall compared to states that did not allow them.