Dr. Drucker[/caption]
Aaron Drucker MD, ScM, FRCPC
Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, Women’s College Hospital
Scientist, Women’s College Research Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicin and Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation
University of Toronto
Adjunct Scientist, ICES
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Because atopic dermatitis is a chronic condition that is common in children, parents and physicians often wonder if it will affect overall child well-being, including their growth parameters. Previous studies were mostly cross-sectional, so we conducted a longitudinal study to follow children over time.
We found that although young children with atopic dermatitis were somewhat shorter with higher BMI than children without atopic dermatitis, these differences were small and attenuated as children grew older.
Dr. Stingone[/caption]
Jeanette Stingone PhD
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology
Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Lead is a well-established neurotoxin, particularly when exposure occurs early in life and in childhood. Associations between elevated blood lead levels and lower scores on tests of neurodevelopment and cognition are seen consistently across studies, even when examining lower levels of exposure.
While reducing exposure to lead is the primary intervention to prevent these adverse outcomes, there aren’t many interventions designed to support the neurodevelopment of children who have been exposed to lead. Some municipalities consider elevated blood lead levels as a criteria for inclusion in Early Intervention programs. Early Intervention programs are mandated under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and provide services for children younger than 3 years old with disabilities or developmental delays.
The objective of this study was to compare 3rd grade standardized test scores among children who had elevated blood lead levels early in life to see if children who had received Early Intervention services performed better on these tests than those who did not receive services. Using matching methods and an existing administrative data linkage of children who were born and attended public school in New York City, we observed that children exposed to lead who received Early Intervention services scored higher on standardized tests in both math and English Language arts than children exposed to lead who did not receive services.
Dr. Fernandez-Mendoza[/caption]
Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, PhD, CBSM, DBSM
Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health
Sleep Research & Treatment Center
Director, Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program
Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Is insomnia familial?
Response: Consistent research has shown that about 25% of school-age children have insomnia symptoms consisting of difficulties initiating or maintaining sleep. However, what has remained unknown is to what extent those insomnia symptoms persist all the way into adulthood, or whether they developmentally remit (go away with age) as the child grows into adolescence or young adulthood. This is the question that our study focused on.
Dr. Aris[/caption]
Izzuddin M Aris, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Division of Chronic Disease Research Across the Lifecourse
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute
Boston, MA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Puberty is a key stage during child development. Previous research indicates that children in the United States are entering puberty at younger ages. These children may be in danger of developing certain diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, later in life. A better understanding of how early life factors affect puberty development is important for combating earlier puberty onset. .
Dr. Hviid[/caption]
Anders Hviid M.Sc.,Dr.Med.Sci.
Head of Department (acting),
Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology,
Department of Epidemiology Research
Statens Serum Institut
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: An unusually low number of extremely preterm births have been observed in some countries during the initial covid-19 lockdowns. We speculated that this could be because of fewer infections, reduced activity levels, less stress etc. These are also factors that change with the seasons, and we hypothesized that extremely preterm birth might be associated with seasonality.
Dr. Murray[/caption]
Thomas Murray MD PhD
Associate Professor, Yale School of Medicine
Department of Pediatrics, Infectious Disease and Global Health
Associate Medical Director, Infection Prevention
Yale New Haven Children's Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: This study was performed by Yale- CARES (Children and Adults Research in Early Education Study Team) a multidisciplinary group of researchers that are interested in learning how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted early child care programs in the US including the effects on both the children and those who care for them in this setting. This is important because when child care programs close it becomes very difficult for working families to find safe, affordable alternative care.
We surveyed over 6000 child care workers from across the US in May/June 2020 with a follow up survey in May/June 2021. This includes both center based and home based child care programs. One question we were interested in was what things they were doing in their programs to reduce the risk of COVID-19. We then asked whether their program closed at any time in that year because of COVID-19.
Dr. Ware[/caption]
Dr Julia Ware
(née Fuchs)
Clinical Research Associate
Wellcome-MRC Institute of Metabolic Science-Metabolic Research Laboratories
and Medical Research Council Metabolic Diseases Unit, University of Cambridge
Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Management of type 1 diabetes is challenging in very young children, due to their high variability of insulin requirements and unpredictable eating and activity patterns. As a result, many young children do not meet the recommended glycemic targets, or only maintain recommended glycemic control with extensive caregiver input. This in turn leads to high management burden and reduced quality of life for the whole family.
While the increasing use of continuous glucose-monitoring devices and insulin-pump therapy has led to reductions in the incidence of severe hypoglycaemia and diabetic ketoacidosis, and has been accompanied by modest improvements in glycemic control, the burden of management has remained high. Hybrid closed-loop systems (also called an artificial pancreas), in which an algorithm automatically adjusts insulin delivery on the basis of real-time sensor glucose levels, may address ongoing challenges in this age group. However, to date hybrid closed-loop studies involving very young children have been small and of short duration and the efficacy and safety of longer term use of a closed-loop system, as compared with standard therapy, was unclear.
To address this knowledge gap, we compared 16-week use of the Cambridge closed-loop algorithm with sensor-augmented pump therapy in children aged 1 to 7 years with type 1 diabetes in a multi-national randomised crossover study.
Dr. Bell[/caption]
Edward Bell, MD
Professor of Pediatrics-Neonatology
Vice Chair for Faculty Development,
Stead Family Department of Pediatrics
Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine
University of Iowa
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has supported the Neonatal Research Network (NRN) since 1986. The NRN, a group of US academic centers, is tasked with conducting research to improve the treatment and health outcomes of premature and critically-ill babies in US neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Every few years, the NRN publishes reports on the survival rates and outcomes of surviving extremely premature babies, those born before 28 weeks of gestation. These reports help us to judge progress in the care and outcomes of these infants. This paper is the 9th in this series of reports but the first that includes not only survival and in-hospital outcomes but also outcomes at 2 years of age.
Dr. Freedman[/caption]
Stephen Freedman MDCM, MSc
Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine
Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation Professor in Child Health and Wellness
Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, Cumming School of Medicine
University of Calgary
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: During the early stages of the global 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, children represented fewer than 5% of reported cases. However, children now represent a significant percent of all new COVID-19 cases. Similarly, pediatric hospitalizations due to COVID-19, are now at an all-time high. Although COVID-19 is generally mild in children, severe outcomes and death do occur. The risk of severe outcomes among SARS-CoV-2 infected children is poorly understood with estimates varying considerably between study designs, settings, and regions. Studies generally include large administrative databases (i.e. community based), hospitalized populations, and children admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
Identified risk factors for severe COVID-19 in children have included young (i.e. 1-3 months) or old (15-18 years) pediatric age group, male sex, and pre-existing medical condition. However, data from large prospective cohort studies which include children with early or mild stages of disease seeking emergency department (ED) care are lacking.
To address this knowledge gap we sought to quantify the frequency of and risk factors for severe outcomes in SARS-CoV-2 infected children enrolled in a prospective ED-based cohort study.
Dr. Myran[/caption]
Daniel Myran, MD, MPH, CCFP, FRCPC
Family and Public Health and Preventive Medicine Physician
CIHR Fellow, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Department of Family Medicine Innovation Fellow
University of Ottawa
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Canada legalized recreational, or non-medical, cannabis in October 2018. Canada took phased approach to legalization initially only allowing flower-based cannabis products and oils and after one year permitting the sale of commercial cannabis edibles (e.g. THC containing candies, baked goods, and drinks). In this study we took advantage of this phased roll out of legal cannabis to understand the impact of legalization on cannabis exposures or poisonings in children aged 0-9 years and the contribution of different types of cannabis products to these events.
Dr. Dumitriu[/caption]
Dani Dumitriu, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (in Psychiatry)
The Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology
Columbia University, New York
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: A lot of research has focused on the effects of COVID-19 in various vulnerable populations, such as elderly individuals, immunocompromised patients, and individuals with severe comorbidities. However, one vulnerable population that has remained relatively understudied are the infants exposed to maternal COVID-19 disease during pregnancy.
While early on in the pandemic we and other groups showed reassuring data on low risk of vertical transmission, meaning the passing of the virus from mother-to-infant is rare, this does not necessarily mean that these infants wouldn't experience long-term consequences related to the maternal infection through other means. We know from other viral illness that maternal illness, most commonly through the activation of her immune system, can lead to a cascade of events that affect fetal development. This is why a large number of physicians and researchers at Columbia University spearheaded the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes (COMBO) Initiative -- to look at potential long-term health effects on both infants and mothers.
Sean C. Rose, MD
Child Neurology
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
The Ohio State University, Columbus
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: There is conflicting evidence regarding the association between repetitive head impacts during youth contact sports and worse neurocognitive outcomes. Most research has been conducted in older adults, while the research in children is mostly limited to 1-2 sports seasons.
Dr. Cabana[/caption]
Michael Cabana, M.D., M.A., M.P.H
Professor of Pediatrics
Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Physician-in-chief , Children's Hospital at Montefiore
Chair of the Department of Pediatrics
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Member, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study and recommendation statement?
Response: Dental caries, also known as cavities or tooth decay, is the most common chronic disease in children in the United States and can develop in any child whose teeth have come in. Many young children under five years old do not visit a dentist, so the Task Force reviewed the latest evidence on how primary care clinicians can help prevent tooth decay in young children.
The Task Force’s research led to two important findings: all young children whose teeth have come in should have fluoride varnish applied by their clinician, and all children six months and older whose water supply doesn’t contain enough fluoride should receive fluoride supplements. Both approaches can help prevent cavities in kids.
The Task Force also determined that there is not enough evidence to recommend for or against screening for tooth decay in the primary care setting for children under five. This is consistent with the Task Force’s 2014 recommendation on dental caries.
Dr. Bacharier[/caption]
Leonard B. Bacharier, MD
Janie Robinson and John Moore Lee Chair in Pediatrics
Professor of Pediatrics
Director - Center for Pediatric Asthma Research
Scientific Director - Center for Clinical and Translational Research
Section Chief - Pediatric Allergy and Immunology
Division of Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonary Medicine
Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Is Dupilumab used for other atopic conditions, ie eczema/atopic dermatitis?
Response: Many children with moderate-severe asthma continue to experience asthma exacerbations and poor asthma control despite use of controller therapies. Dupilumab has been shown to reduce asthma exacerbations in adolescents and adults, as well as to improve atopic dermatitis in children and adults.
Dr. Baktari[/caption]
Jonathan Baktari, MD
CEO of e7health.com
Dr. Baktari, CEO discusses Pfizer’s recent announcement that their vaccine trial for children ages 5-11 has been safe and effective, marking a major milestone in the fight against COVID-19.
MedicalResearch.com: What risks should parents weigh?
Response: Pfizer has already said that based on their studies the lower dose two shot COVID vaccine for children is safe, meaning that their data shows minimal side effects. If that data is correct, then we should expect the same minor symptoms we see with teenagers to the COVID vaccine
Dr. Morris[/caption]
Shaun K. Morris MD, MPH, FRCPC, FAAP, DTM&H
Divisions of General Pediatrics
Clinician-Scientist, Division of Infectious Diseases
Division of Infectious Diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
for the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program COVID-19 Study Team
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The SARS-CoV-2 virus can cause the disease we now call COVID-19. In early 2020, when the SARS-CoV-2 virus first spread outside of China, it quickly became apparent that cases may be seen in Canada. It was not known at the time how infection with the virus would affect children and youth. Because more severe disease from other respiratory viruses often disproportionally affect the very young, we expected that a similar pattern may be seen with SARS-CoV-2. We also did not know if children and youth with certain underlying medical conditions may be at higher risk for more severe disease.
Ultimately, this study was designed to get a better understanding of how often children and youth in Canada are hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infection, how often severe disease happens, and which children or youth may be at higher risk for severe disease.
Dr. Tolliver[/caption]
Destiny Tolliver, MD
National Clinician Scholars Program
Yale University School of Medicine
New Haven, CT 06510-8088
Katherine Nash MD, MHS
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: This study was motivated by work from our colleagues in the adult Emergency Medicine world. Earlier this year Dr. Ambrose Wong and colleagues published work describing racial disparities in the physical restraint of adults in the ED. This prompted our group to consider whether these disparities were also present for children.
Dr. Oken[/caption]
Emily Oken MD MPH
Professor, Harvard Medical School
Professor in the Department of Population Medicine
Associate Director and Advisor, Oliver Wendell Holmes Society.
Professor, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: In this study of over 11,000 mothers and children, we found that a mothers with higher weight in late pregnancy had children with poorer performance on tests of cognition and behavior in childhood and adolescence.
The findings are consistent with results from studies in other populations around the world, as well as animal experiments. This research suggests that maternal nutrition is important for child health over the long-term, and specifically provides support for mothers to try to achieve healthy weight and nutritional status during pregnancy.
Dr. Gary Smith[/caption]
Gary A. Smith, MD, DrPH
Director, Center for Injury Research and Policy
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Columbus, OH
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Furniture and TV tip-overs are an important source of injury, especially for children younger than 6 years old. Our study found that an estimated 560,200 children younger than 18 years old were treated in U.S. emergency departments for furniture or TV tip-over injuries from 1990 through 2019. In 2019, there were 11,521 injured children, which is an average of one child every 46 minutes.
Dr. Rotenstein[/caption]
Lisa Rotenstein, MD, MBA
Assistant Medical Director
Population Health and Faculty Wellbeing
Department of Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Our previous work in JAMA Internal Medicine demonstrated significant differences in time spent on the electronic health record (EHR) by specialty, and specifically showed that primary care clinicians spent significantly more total and after-hours time on the EHR than surgical and medical specialty counterparts. Primary care clinicians spent twice as long as surgical colleagues on notes, and received more than twice as many messages from team-mates, five times as many patient messages, and fifteen times as many prescription messages each day.
Given these findings, the heavy administrative burden placed on primary care clinicians, and previous data about burnout among primary care clinicians, we wanted to better understand differences in time spent on the EHR among the different types of primary care clinicians.
Dr. Forbes[/caption]
Lisa Forbes, Ph.D, LPC, NCC
Clinical Assistant Professor
Counseling Program
University of Colorado Denver
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The most common mode of learning in tertiary education is lecture-based learning despite the knowledge that more active, engaged, and flexible approaches to teaching may better support the learning process. This study aimed to understand graduate students’ experiences with a playful pedagogy as an alternative approach to learning.
Dr. Hoberman[/caption]
Alejandro Hoberman, M.D.
Vice Chair of Clinical Research, Division Director, General Academic Pediatrics, and Professor of Pediatrics and Clinical and Translational Science
Jack L. Paradise, MD Endowed Professor of Pediatric Research, UPMC Children's Hospital of PittsburghPresident, UPMC Children's Community Pediatrics
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Acute otitis media (AOM) is the most frequently diagnosed illness in children in the United States for which antibiotics are prescribed. Recurrent AOM is the principal indication for tympanostomy-tube placement, the most frequently performed operation in children after the newborn period. Supporting the performance of tympanostomy-tube placement for recurrent acute otitis media has been the commonplace observation, after surgery, of acute otitis media–free periods of varying duration. Counterbalancing this view have been the cost of tympanostomy-tube placement; risks and possible late sequelae of anesthesia in young children; the possible occurrence of refractory tube otorrhea, tube blockage, premature extrusion, or dislocation of the tube into the middle-ear cavity; various structural tympanic membrane sequelae; and the possible development of mild conductive hearing loss. Tempering support for surgery is the progressive reduction in the incidence of acute otitis media that usually accompanies a child’s increasing age.
Previous trials of tympanostomy-tube placement for recurrent acute otitis media, all conducted before the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, have given mixed results and were limited, variously, by small sample size, uncertain validity of diagnoses of acute otitis media determining trial eligibility, short periods of follow-up, and substantial attrition of participants. Official recommendations regarding tympanostomy-tube placement for children with recurrent acute otitis media differ — an otolaryngologic guideline recommends the procedure for children with recurrent acute otitis media, provided that middle-ear effusion is present in at least one ear; a contemporaneous pediatric guideline discusses tympanostomy-tube placement as an “option [that] clinicians may offer.”
Given these uncertainties, we undertook the present trial involving children 6 to 35 months of age who had a history of recurrent acute otitis media to determine whether tympanostomy-tube placement, as compared with medical management (comprising episodic antimicrobial treatment, with the option of tympanostomy-tube placement in the event of treatment failure), would result in a greater reduction in the children’s rate of recurrence of acute otitis media during the ensuing 2-year period.
Dr. Andersson[/caption]
Niklas Worm Andersson, MD
Department of Epidemiology Research
Statens Serum Institut,
Copenhagen Denmark
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: "Findings from some previous fetal safety studies on topical corticosteroid use in pregnancy have raised concerns for an increased risk of newborns being small for gestational age or having low birth weight, in particular among pregnancies where larger amounts of potent to very potent agents have been used."
Prof. Papageorghiou[/caption]
Aris Papageorghiou MBChB, MRCOG
Professor of Fetal Medicine and the Clinical Research Director
Oxford Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute
University of Oxford
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Our study was really guided by a key question: does Covid-19 in pregnancy increase the risk of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes as compared with pregnant women who do not have the infection?
The question is highly relevant because of the known deleterious effects of other coronavirus infections in pregnancy, e.g. SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus).
In order to answer this question we undertook this multinational cohort study.