News

Primary care practices are the backbone of childhood immunization delivery, and have become indispensable in the promotion of public health. Over the last decades, however, the skyrocketing costs of vaccines have gone from a minor consideration in the overhead of a pediatric practice to one of significant financial burden, largely because of new vaccines.

A new study detailing the impact of early infection, antibiotics, and vaccines in preterm infants also offers hope that new vaccine therapies could help decrease sepsis and long-term damage in this vulnerable population.

Patients with diabetes are at risk for developing inappropriate relationships with food, according to new research, highlighting the need for healthcare providers to provide more psychosocial support to this population.

The American Academy of Pediatrics form for an allergy and anaphylaxis emergency plan.

Anaphylaxis is a serious, life-threatening allergic reaction that can occur suddenly without warning. In children and adolescents, the leading cause of anaphylaxis is exposure to food allergens. Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published 2 clinical reports that discuss guidance on appropriate epinephrine use for anaphylaxis and developing an emergency action plan for patients at risk.

The vaping culture of using non–cigarette tobacco and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is the latest risky trend among adolescents and young adults. Vaping is the use of high-tech, advanced electronic devices such as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), refillable atomizers, and other tobacco products as an alternative or in addition to regular cigarettes.

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.

A healthy 9-year-old female presents with a 1-day history of fever, progressive rash, conjunctivitis, and superficial oral ulcers.

There is a trend in internal medicine to get away from doing complete physical examinations on each visit, with a minimalistic approach to a healthy patient. I am not prepared to go that far just yet, but I have modified my examination in many ways over the years. Here are some gems I have unearthed.

It seems that our healthcare system is overdue for an integrity/honesty overhaul. Let’s review how we can begin the process of restoration at the practice and healthcare system levels.

The father of a healthy 15-year-old girl brings her to the emergency department (ED) for evaluation of blue hands.

A new online tool may help clinicians predict if a child of a parent with bipolar disorder (BD) will follow in their footsteps

For Contemporary Pediatrics, Dr Bobby Lazzara discusses a large cohort study published in JAMA Psychiatry that examined whether children with a positive strep test are more likely than their counterparts to develop mental disorders, particularly tic disorders and OCD.

While reading Dr. Hall’s article “Persistent agitation in children with neurologic impairments,” the differences between the medical and nurse practitioner (NP) models of care emerge.

Research has long tied alcohol use to early mortality, but a new study reveals how age at first drunkenness alone can impact mortality.

Parental knowledge and provider support are key factors in increasing acceptance and uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among parents of boys, according to a new report.

Although opioid use disorders among teenagers and young adults are increasing, the number of teenagers and young adults who receive medication to treat opioid use is decreasing, with significant inequalities among population types.

A new study reveals that premature infants perform nearly as well as their full-term peers by their school years, and that those who don’t aren’t as far behind their peers as previously thought.

Most physicians are not adhering to recommendations on otitis media management, according to a new report from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF).

Tympanostomy tubes are widely used in pediatric care, taking first place as the most popular ambulatory surgery. However, new research reveals that tube placement provides just short-term hearing improvement and has little impact on quality of life.

Improving care coordination across the healthcare continuum has the potential to dramatically improve patient care, reduce duplicative tests and procedures, and positively impact care quality. This whitepaper explores data coordination that more easily locates records, reduces test and procedure duplication - and boosts your quality of care.

A look at what you can find in the July 2017 issue of Contemporary Pediatrics.

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.

In children aged older than 2 months, the pediatrician is often faced with the scenario of fever with no apparent source. Because symptoms in young patients are nonspecific and reliable urine samples require invasive testing, there can be a delay in both diagnosis and treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs). This delay may be associated with increased risk of renal scarring and a longer duration symptomology for the young child.

A father brings his 8-year-old son to the office for evaluation of new, asymptomatic blue bumps that have appeared on the boy’s chest over the last several months (Figure). The dad notes that he has had similar lesions as well.