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 […]
Treating childhood ADHD with stimulant meds not associated with increased substance use later in life, study finds
Children taking a prescription stimulant to manage symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not have more substance use or substance use disorder (SUD) as adolescents or young adults, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Published today in JAMA Psychiatry, the study may provide some […]
Subclinical CVD Detected in Kids With Higher Arsenic Burden
Greater arsenic exposure was linked to children harboring subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) as early as age 9, based on data from Syracuse, New York. In this upstate community with a history of industrial waste, total arsenic level significantly correlated with carotid intima media thickness and concentric hypertrophy (the latter indicated by greater left ventricular mass […]
Shorter Antibiotic Course Not as Effective for Children With UTIs
Abbreviated antibiotic treatment didn’t measure up for children with urinary tract infection (UTI), the SCOUT trial found. Stopping antibiotics when symptoms improved after an initial 5-day course yielded a 4.1% rate of persistent symptomatic UTI by follow-up at day 11-14 compared with 0.6% when kids had the full 10-day course, Nader Shaikh, MD, MPH, of […]
Serious Complications Uncommon After Primary Lens Implantation in Children
A third of intraocular lens (IOL) implants for nontraumatic glaucoma in children required reoperation for visual axis opacification (VAO) within 5 years, most often in eyes that did not have anterior vitrectomy, a large cohort study showed. Overall, 32% of 609 eyes developed VAO requiring reoperation after primary IOL implantation. The reoperation rate for VAO […]
High-Dose Leptin Reversed Severe Genetic Obesity in Two Patients
Personalized recombinant leptin treatment helped reverse severe, early-onset obesity in two children carrying rare antagonistic leptin genetic variants, a study showed. In the double case report, two unrelated children — a 14-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl — presented with what appeared to be leptin dysfunction, marked by intense hyperphagia, lack of satiety, and severe […]
FDA Allows Extra Doses of Bivalent COVID Vax for Immunocompromised Tots
The FDA has authorized additional doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for young immunocompromised children, the agency announced on Friday. In kids ages 6 months to 4 years with certain types of immunocompromising conditions (i.e., solid-organ transplant recipients, or those considered to have a similar level of immunocompromise), and who previously received three primary 0.2-mL […]
Early signs that may help predict ADHD risk
Information available at birth may help to identify children with higher likelihood of developing ADHD, according to new research from RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. The study, published in Development and Psychopathology, examined data from almost 10,000 children in the United States, showing information about pregnancy and birth may help to help predict […]
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 […]
Doc Moms, Mind the Gap — $3M Earning Difference by Sex
During a 40-year career, the average female physician with children made $3 million less than the average male physician with children — nearly double the male-female earnings gap experienced by single physicians, according to a national study of 95,000 physicians. In a cross-sectional analysis of surveys conducted from 2005 to 2019, female physicians earned as […]