Child Health News and Research

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Auckland kids are five times more likely than those in other developed countries to need hospital admission for pneumonia

Pneumonia is a major problem in New Zealand. We believe a significant proportion of it is preventable. We want to know what the risk factors are so that we can find ways to reduce the number of children who get so sick they need hospital care

23 Sep 2004

Current methods of delivering health care to kids are woefully unable to cope with a pediatric disease pendulum

"There's a growing gap between where child health is moving and how we're attempting to deliver health care to kids," said pediatrician and health policy researcher Paul Wise, MD, MPH.

15 Sep 2004

Knowing which treatments work and which don't is an important first step in improving children's health care, but it's not enough

University of South Florida pediatrician Dr. Lisa Simpson says she knew enough to ignore a physician’s recommendation that treating repeated ear infections with ear tubes was important to her son’s eventual speech and language outcomes.

14 Sep 2004

Chronic illnesses among children not adequately addressed

Current methods of delivering health care to kids are woefully unable to cope with a pediatric disease pendulum that has swung from acute to chronic illnesses, says a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

13 Sep 2004

First ever analysis of body mass index (BMI) data at the school, district, county and state level

The Arkansas Center for Health Improvement has released a report that provides the first-ever analysis of body mass index (BMI) data at the school, school district, county and state level.

7 Sep 2004

13 percent of U.S. children have had a special health care need

Approximately 13 percent of U.S. children have had a special health care need, and significant proportions of their families experience financial problems related to the child's condition, according to an article in the September issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

7 Sep 2004

Preschoolers' still getting too much added sugar and juice and not enough fruits and vegetables

Preschoolers' diet quality improved marginally between 1977 and 1998 but they are still getting too much added sugar and juice and not enough fruits and vegetables a recent study shows.

29 Aug 2004

Besides helping infants’ lungs mature, sighs may “reset” breathing regulation mechanism

As if new parents don’t have enough to worry about getting in synch with their infants, many of them wonder “what’s with these sighs?”

25 Aug 2004

Popular injectable contraceptive increases risk of STD's

The injectable contraceptive depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) appears to increase a woman’s risk of acquiring the sexually transmitted infections chlamydia and gonorrhea by approximately three fold when compared to women not using a hormonal contraceptive

23 Aug 2004

Researchers have discovered that many people with Bardet-Biedl syndrome can't detect odors

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that many people with Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), a rare, complex condition marked by an array of seemingly unconnected symptoms, including obesity, learning difficulties, eye problems and asthma, also have another, previously unreported problem

23 Aug 2004

Dual-action compound shows promise in killing prostate cancer cells

Ohio State University researchers are working on developing a multi-purpose cancer drug that might one day scale back the number of medications some cancer patients need to take.

22 Aug 2004

Five-in-one vaccine is an important step forward in the UK's vaccination programme

The new five-in-one vaccine is an important step forward in the United Kingdom's vaccination programme, say child health experts in this week's BMJ.

20 Aug 2004

The world's population in 2050 will be 9.276 billion, currently 6.396 in 2004

The Population Reference Bureau has released the 2004 World Population Data Sheet. The new data is now the most up-to-date world demographic information and makes estimates for all countries and regions of the world. It also highlights key world demographic shifts between now and 2050.

18 Aug 2004

Kids who grow up with poor single mothers are more likely to get into trouble

Kids who grow up with poor single mothers are less likely to expect to go to college and more likely to get into trouble in school and to perform poorly academically, according to a study by a Rice University sociologist

17 Aug 2004

Adolescent girls that have been physically coerced into sexual intercourse are more likely to have had a sexually transmitted disease

Adolescent girls who say they have been physically coerced into sexual intercourse are more likely to have had a sexually transmitted disease, according to a new study published in the journal Women’s Health Issues.

17 Aug 2004

Scientists have uncovered the identity of the last of eight genes known to contribute to Bardet-Biedl syndrome

The identification of the BBS3 gene ends the search for primary BBS-causing genes in families studied for years by a team of scientists from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. However, the scientists are still hunting for other, less obvious genetic influences in these families.

16 Aug 2004

Pineal gland which regulates the cycles of sleep and waking evolved to improve vision

The pineal gland - which regulates the cycles of sleep and waking - appears to have evolved as an indirect way to improve vision, by keeping toxic compounds away from the eye

13 Aug 2004

African-American women are having fewer children and breastfeeding less

Keck School of Medicine researchers report that African-American women are having fewer children and breastfeeding less, which might translate to escalating rates of breast cancer in the African-American community.

3 Aug 2004

Computerised treatment for teaching obese teenagers how to eat healthily

Researchers from the University of Bristol have embarked upon a trial to test an innovative computerised treatment for teaching obese teenagers how to eat healthily.

23 Jul 2004

Young children capable of reporting on their own health

One of the most perplexing things about children’s health is that parents and children do not agree about it. The importance of obtaining children’s perspectives of their own health is the subject of a major debate among pediatricians and child health researchers.

20 Jul 2004