Child Health News and Research

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Groundbreaking study explores prenatal drug therapy for osteogenesis imperfecta

Shriners Children's St. Louis is proud to announce that one of its lead researchers, Dr. Arin Oestreich, has been awarded a $3.1 million R01 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

5 May 2026

Child health experts launch GenHEART to tackle Australia's obesity crisis

Heart health, diet, exercise and sleep will be targeted under a multi-pronged strategy by child health experts to address Australia's obesity crisis.

4 May 2026

Gentler treatment improves survival in children with relapsed leukemia

A gentler treatment for children whose leukemia has come back could boost survival and quality of life, a study led by a UCL academic has found.

30 Apr 2026

Degeneration in two brain regions causes severe narcolepsy symptoms

For nearly 25 years, scientists believed they knew what caused the most severe form of narcolepsy. A new UCLA Health study now suggests they were only half correct.

30 Apr 2026

Maternal weight before pregnancy may shape toddlers’ development

A nationwide Korean cohort study of 258,367 mother-child pairs found that maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with developmental delay risk in children aged 18 to 36 months. Children of underweight mothers showed modest early risks that later attenuated, while obesity-related risks persisted across developmental domains.

29 Apr 2026

Study finds season of entry impacts childhood obesity outcomes

Childhood obesity remains a major health challenge, and effective interventions often depend on more than nutritional advice or exercise plans alone.

28 Apr 2026

Stanford research shows group brain scan averages hide unique individual activity

Studying cognition by averaging data from many people's brain scans hides how individuals use their brains, new Stanford Medicine research has shown.

28 Apr 2026

Study finds different types of crystalloid fluids are equally effective for pediatric sepsis

A major study, led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Nemours Children's Health, and Children's National Hospital and involving an extensive network of medical centers across the United States and abroad, found that different types of crystalloid fluid resuscitation were equally effective for staving off the most serious adverse kidney events after the treatment of pediatric patients with suspected septic shock.

25 Apr 2026

Molecular map reveals how Down syndrome alters brain development

Scientists at UCLA have created one of the first cellular-resolution molecular maps detailing how Down syndrome alters human brain development before birth - a resource that resolves longstanding contradictions in the field and could lay the groundwork for future therapeutic strategies.

25 Apr 2026

Study highlights the fragility of measles elimination in the United States

A new study examined measles vaccination coverage following a large postelimination outbreak, primarily affecting unvaccinated children. Findings from the study will be presented during the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2026 Meeting, taking place April 24-27 in Boston.

24 Apr 2026

U.S. dentists still prescribe opioids at higher rates globally

People getting their teeth pulled or drilled by dentists in the United States are still much more likely to get powerful opioid medications than dental patients in other developed countries or even the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, a new study finds.

23 Apr 2026

Study highlights gaps in opioid use disorder care during pregnancy

Opioid use disorder during pregnancy remains a critical yet under-addressed public health issue in the U.S., according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

23 Apr 2026

WHO congratulates The Bahamas for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV

In a landmark achievement for Caribbean public health, the World Health Organization (WHO) congratulates The Bahamas for becoming the latest Caribbean nation to be certified as having eliminated the mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

23 Apr 2026

Rural and urban children face distinct mental health challenges

A study in Pediatric Investigation found that rural and urban children and adolescents tend to experience different mental health issues, with those living in the country showing more emotional problems and those in the city demonstrating more behavioral issues.

22 Apr 2026

Autism risk rises with multiple medications taken during pregnancy

A study links maternal use of cholesterol-inhibiting medications during pregnancy to increased autism risk in children, urging caution in prescribing practices.

22 Apr 2026

Study finds no benefit of stronger antibiotics for sinusitis

Acute sinusitis leads to more antibiotic prescriptions for U.S. adults than any other condition, but there is no consensus on which antibiotic is preferred for uncomplicated cases.

20 Apr 2026

Certain prenatal medications linked to increased risk of autism

A landmark study led by researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and published in Molecular Psychiatry has identified a significant association between prenatal prescription of commonly utilized medications and the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children.

20 Apr 2026

Researchers debunk the existence of the childhood "adiposity rebound" phenomenon

In new research to be presented at this year's European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Turkey (12-15 May) and published in The Journal of Nutrition, a 42-year old theory as to why children's body mass index (BMI) decreases post-infancy before then rising continuously from age six years –'the adiposity rebound' is refuted using new analyses – rather than decreasing body fat, the real reason is proposed as increasing muscle mass.

17 Apr 2026

Scientists discover a biological "memory" of breastfeeding in child blood samples

Babies who are exclusively breastfed for at least three months carry markers in their blood that differ from babies who are not breastfed.

16 Apr 2026

BMI increases in early childhood may reflect muscle growth, not fat

A new study published in The Journal of Nutrition, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Society for Nutrition, offers new insights into a decades-old puzzle in childhood obesity. The study found that while body mass index (BMI) starts to rise in early childhood during a stage known as adiposity rebound, when BMI increases after an initial decline, the waist-to-height ratio, a measure that better reflects body fat, continues to drop. This suggests that the BMI increase at this age mainly reflects growth in lean tissues such as muscle and bone, rather than extra body fat.

16 Apr 2026