Michael G Burke, MD

The link between a child’s losing a father and poor health is well documented. Now a new study shines a light on the biologic factors that may underlie this association.

Parents of children who visit a pediatric emergency department often report that their child has an allergy to penicillin, which can lead to treatment with a less than optimal antibiotic.

Most pediatricians advise patients and their parents who smoke to quit, and the proportion of those who do so changed little from 2004 to 2010, according to surveys conducted in those years.

Antibiotic treatment with either clindamycin or trimethoprim- sulfa - methoxazole (TMP-SMX) leads to better outcomes than incision and drainage with placebo in patients with uncomplicated cutaneous abscesses, particularly those caused by Staphylococcus aureus, according to a large study.

Compared with traditional appendectomy, nonoperative management (NOM) of uncomplicated appendicitis using parenteral antibiotics is associated with more subsequent emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations, as well as more subsequent appendectomies.

Almost 1300 US children die and 5790 are treated for gunshot wounds each year, according to an analysis of information in several national databases.

More than one-third of families of 184 infants surveyed every 6 months during a 4-year period reported exposing their child to TV during meals.

Infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) treated with supportive nonpharmacologic interventions have a substantially shorter hospital stay and are less likely to be treated with morphine, a new study shows.

Between 1990 and 2010, more than 260,000 children were treated in emergency departments (EDs) for ear injuries related to use of cotton-tip applicators (CTAs), according to data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.

A review of a large claims-based database suggests that they are. Investigators identified almost 10,000 children aged up to 14 years who were prescribed either Lotrisone or Mycolog-II creams (antifungal and corticosteroid combination products) by pediatricians and other specialists from 2007 through 2014.

Diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at age 9 years is associated with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), according to an analysis of data for 1572 children who are part of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) birth cohort.

An analysis of 2015 claims data for about 69,000 children with an asthma diagnosis suggests that the answer to this question is “yes.” Of these children, who were insured through a large Texas health plan for children with Medicaid and CHIP and who ranged in age from 1 to 18 years, 42.1% were given an oral corticosteroid (OCS) 1 or more times during the year; 9.9%, 2 or more times; and 3.3%, 3 or more times.

A comparison of 4 levels of pain management of routine vaccine injections found that of the remedies tried, only liposomal lidocaine applied at the injection site provided consistent relief.

In a recently published essay to address this question, the authors suggest that pediatricians may present human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as optional or less urgent than other adolescent vaccines because they do not often read or hear about their patients’ being affected by HPV-associated cancers, which generally strike older populations.

An analysis of data on the incidence of pertussis shows that although acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine had a positive impact among adolescents in the 4 years after it was introduced in 2005, in 2010 pertussis incidence in this age group began to increase more rapidly than it did in all other age groups.

Disadvantaged mothers who receive regular home visits by nurses during pregnancy and through their child’s second birthday are less likely to die from all-cause mortality and their children are less likely to die from preventable causes than their counterparts who do not have such visits.

Targeting TSLP (thymic stromal lymphopoietin), a cytokine that is produced by epithelial cells in response to proinflammatory stimuli and drives allergic inflammatory responses, with an anti-TSLP agent reduces allergen-induced bronchoconstriction and indexes of airway inflammation, a new study shows.

A recent investigation found that compared with healthy-weight children, those who are obese show significantly less brain activation in regions associated with cognitive control after viewing familiar food logos, such as McDonald’s “golden arches.” This suggests that obese children may be more responsive to food advertising than their normal-weight peers.