Waist-to-height ratio detects fat obesity in children and adolescents significantly better than BMI
An inexpensive measure of obesity in children and adolescents that could replace body mass index (BMI) has been identified in a new study as waist circumference-to-height ratio. This measure detected excess fat mass and distinguished fat mass from muscle mass in children and adolescents more accurately than BMI. The study was conducted in collaboration between […]
Poor diet quality during adolescence is linked to serious health risks
Diet quality among adolescents in the United States is among the worst across all age groups, putting young people at risk for heart attack, stroke, and diabetes, among other cardiometabolic diseases later in life. The research brief shared in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier, used the Healthy Eating Index-2015 and […]
AI may aid in diagnosing adolescents with ADHD
Using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze specialized brain MRI scans of adolescents with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), researchers found significant differences in nine brain white matter tracts in individuals with ADHD. Results of the study will be presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). ADHD is a […]
The 1 Thing That Child Therapists Say Harms Kids’ Happiness The Most
Children and adolescents in the U.S. today reap the benefits of decades of medical and psychological research. We are able to diagnose and effectively treat mental health conditions to a degree that wasn’t possible only a generation ago, with a wider arsenal of pharmacological options and increasingly targeted and sophisticated non-invasive therapies. The quality of […]
Diminishing health benefits of living in cities for children and teens
The advantages of living in cities for children and adolescents’ healthy growth and development are shrinking across much of the world, according to a new global analysis of trends in child and adolescent height and body mass index (BMI) led by Imperial College London and published in Nature. The research, by a global consortium of […]
Evaluating and Treating Children With Long COVID
Experts shared advice on diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents showing signs of post-COVID conditions — also known as long COVID — during a CDC Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) webinar. “Post-COVID conditions” is the preferred term of the CDC and is defined as “the wide range of physical and mental health consequences […]
Body Dissatisfaction Can Lead to Eating Disorders at Any Age: New study suggests that perimenopause may be an especially risky time for women who are trying to overcome a poor body image
Eating disorders are stereotypically associated with adolescents and young adults. Growing evidence, however, suggests that these conditions can occur at any time during a woman’s lifespan, including at midlife. A new study finds that body dissatisfaction is a primary cause of eating disorders, especially during perimenopause. Study results are published online today in Menopause, the […]
One Dose of Acoziborole Led to Cure of ‘Sleeping Sickness’ Across Disease Stages
A single dose of oral acoziborole proved to be efficacious and safe for adults and adolescents with gambiense human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as “sleeping sickness,” suggesting its promise in interrupting transmission, a single-arm phase II/III trial showed. Over 18 months of follow-up, the treatment success rate was 95.2% in those with late-stage disease […]
Transgender Teens Seldom Abandon Hormones as Young Adults
Nearly all individuals with gender dysphoria who initiated hormone treatment as adolescents continued that treatment into adulthood, a Dutch observational study found. Among 720 people who started puberty suppressing hormones prior to the age of 18, 704 (98%) continued to use gender-affirming hormones after turning 18, reported Chantal Wiepjes, PhD, of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in […]
Vaping May Open the Door to Cannabis Use in Teens
Adolescents who used e-cigarettes were significantly more likely to become new smokers of cannabis shortly thereafter, a cohort study found. Cannabis-naive adolescents reporting ever vaping at baseline were more than twice as likely to report also using cannabis when surveyed a year later (adjusted RR 2.57 vs nonusers of e-cigarettes, 95% CI 2.04-3.09), reported Ruoyan […]