John Merriman

1. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases: Childhood sports injuries and their prevention: A guide for parents with ideas for kids. Available at: 

									http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Sports_Injuries/child_sports_injuries.pdf

Articles

A sport-by-sport list of everything you need to keep a young athlete safe.

Parent guide: Sport-specific safety information

Playing sports is a popular activity for American children: about 30 million of them participate in organized sports each year.

  It's also a great way for your child to stay fit and healthy. However, increased physical activity also means a greater risk of getting hurt. More than 3.5 million sports-related injuries in children under age 15 are treated every year.

  High school athletes alone account for an estimated two million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations annually.

 One basic precaution kids can take when engaged in school sports activities is to wear appropriate protective gear. Below is a list of common safety equipment, what they protect, and tips regarding their proper use. 

 For a list of sport-specific safety information.  

1. Children's Hospital Boston: Sports injury statistics. Available at: 

									http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1112/mainpageS1112P0.html

2. American Academy of Orthopeadeic Surgeons: A guide to safety for young athletes. Available at: 

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00307&return_link=0

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Sports-Related Injuries Among High School Athletes-United States, 2005-06 School Year. 

4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Nonfatal Traumatic Brain Injuries from Sports and Recreation Activities-United States, 2001-2005. 

5. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases: Childhood sports injuries and their prevention: A guide for parents with ideas for kids. Available at: 

6. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center: Children should rely on safety equipment to prevent school sports injuries. Available at: 

									http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/about/news/release/2007/8-school-sports-injuries.htm

7. Kid's Health for Parents, Nemours Foundation: AAP offers advice for kids' sports safety. Available at: 

									http://www.kidshealth.org/research/aap_overuse.html

No matter the sport, there are pieces of protective gear that players should wear to keep them as safe as possible.

Wearing protective sports gear

Girls are generally better at recognizing tastes than boys, according to results of a Danish study.

For the study, which was conducted by researchers from the University of Copenhagen, the tasting abilities of 8,900 Danish schoolchildren were examined. Findings showed that boys need an average of roughly 10% more sourness, and about 20% more sweetness, to recognize these tastes when compared to girls.

Other results revealed that the boys studied preferred stronger, more extreme flavors, while girls preferred milder tastes. Also, a child's sense of taste seems to change with age, as those between the ages of 13 to 14 became much more sensitive to sour tastes than younger children, while the older children's preference for highly sugary flavors decreased.

In addition, 30% of children who participated in a blind soft drink test preferred tastes that contained either no or very little sugar. However, 48% of the children said they preferred the sugary soft drink taste. Boys  preferred the sugary soft drink more often than girls.

Study: Girls' taste buds best those of boys

, mortality rates among hospitalized children are highest for infants, excluding newborns, and the uninsured.

, researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a nationally representative dataset of hospital discharges, for 1992, 1997, and 2002.

They found that non-newborns under a year old had mortality rates of 52%, the highest of hospitalized child age groups studied. At 40%, newborns had the second highest mortality rate.

Among all age groups, uninsured children had the highest mortality rate at 58%, followed by children with Medicaid coverage at 45%. The mortality rate for children with private health plans was 33%.

The investigators also found that insured children had lower mortality rates compared to the uninsured, and hospital charges were significantly lower for uninsured children compared with insured children.

According to a study in the Journal of Hospital Medicine, mortality rates among hospitalized children are highest for infants, excluding newborns, and the uninsured.

Author | John Merriman

Articles

Parent guide: Sport-specific safety information

Wearing protective sports gear

Study: Girls' taste buds best those of boys

Study: Infants and the uninsured have highest hospitalized child mortality rates