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Domestic water hardness and chlorine have been suggested as important risk factors for atopic dermatitis (AD). One recent study by researchers from Kings College London, United Kingdom, explored the potential associations between domestic water calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and chlorine concentrations in home water systems, damage to the skin's natural barrier, and incidences of AD in infancy.

Although pediatric atopic dermatitis and acne have some similarities among children with skin of color and lighter-skinned children, there are important differences when these common skin conditions affect darker skin types.

Brainstorming with others on our medical team, we sought to bridge the gap between hospital and MH for our pediatric patients.

For Contemporary Pediatrics, Dr Bobby Lazzara explains key findings from a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Immunology. The study examined whether changes in the skin's microbiome were responsible for atopic dermatitis remission that occurs as children age.

Ongoing lab tests and assessments are important in the management of pediatric celiac patients, according to newly released guidelines.

Opioids are known for their powerful pharmacokinetics for pain relief, but are now well recognized for their overuse and abuse through prescriptions provided by healthcare providers. This has created a medical oxymoron: well-meaning pain management as a valued, caring practice for successful recovery from both medical problems and surgical procedures, juxtaposed by the alarming growth of opioids' prescriptive footprint.

Egg allergies are no longer a contraindication for influenza vaccination, but intranasal mists won’t be an alternative for the shot during this year’s flu season, either, according to new recommendations released by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

New research examines the effects of behavioral, psychostimulant, and combined treatments on homework issues among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Recent data has revealed the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), also known as the “nasal spray” vaccine, to be grossly ineffective, leading to the ACIP’s decision not to recommend its usage. As such, healthcare providers must be judicious in their choice of influenza vaccine with their patients.

Opioid abuse rates have reached epidemic proportions, doubling since the 1990s, and-despite the documented success of medication-assisted therapies in treating opioid addiction-less than half of teens with opioid abuse disorders receive such treatment.

A new study claims that about a third of pediatric readmissions could be prevented, and not many of them are tied to underlying chronic conditions.

Pediatricians may not recognize the growing problem of opioid abuse in their communities. As a result, physicians need to carefully examine their prescribing practices.

From 2006 to 2012, patients aged younger than 18 years made more than 21,928 visits to emergency departments (EDs) for poisoning by prescription opioids, such as methadone, codeine, meperidine, or morphine.

A new study demonstrated that in children with an apparent urinary tract infection, the proportion with pyuria varied significantly depending on the uropathogen associated with the infection.

Investigators identified 4 distinct fecal microbiota profiles in infants hospitalized with bronchiolitis and found that 1 of those profiles-dominated by Bacteroides-was associated with a higher likelihood of bronchiolitis than the others.

Investigators used a food frequency questionnaire to assess how often 3003 pregnant women drank artificially sweetened or sugar-sweetened beverages during their second or third trimesters. They then analyzed how this data correlated with the body mass index of these mothers’ babies at age 1 year.

About one-quarter of children who recently have been hospitalized live in food insecure households, which suggests that hospitalization presents a potential opportunity to identify these youngsters and help their families access nutrition assistance.

A father brings his 12-year-old son to the clinic for evaluation of a skin eruption that has been on the back of the boy’s neck for a year, but which just began to extend behind his ear. The rash is asymptomatic, and the otherwise healthy patient is annoyed that he has to spend a beautiful morning in a physician’s office.

In my practice, we are seeing patients and their families being increasingly interested in gaining a competitive edge with regard to athletics.One of the consequences of this is that our young athletes are running themselves down-pushing to be the best-at the cost of wear and tear on their bodies. Repetitive stress, fatigue, and poor technique lead to children suffering overuse injuries and put kids at risk for traumatic injury.

With the introduction of point-of-care (POC) molecular assays, pediatricians can diagnosis influenza A and B during the office visit with sensitivity and specificity comparable to reference assays.

A recent study in preterm infants found that exposure to midazolam, a commonly used sedative in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), was associated with macro- and microstructural alterations in hippocampal development and poorer outcomes consistent with hippocampal dysmaturation.

A recent study found that chest wall rigidity may be partially responsible for some of the deaths related to the intravenous injection of illicit fentanyl.

The mother of a 4-year-old boy, whose family recently emigrated from Haiti, brings him to the pediatric mobile clinic for evaluation of a rash that had begun 11 days earlier as an eruption of vesicular, pruritic papules on the bilateral lower extremities and had spread to the buttocks and medial thighs with sparing of the face. The skin eruption was followed by desquamation of the skin on his palms and soles.

In the throes of an opioid epidemic, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided in August 2015 to expand the indications for OxyContin, an extended-release form of the narcotic oxycodone, to children aged 11 years and older. The decision sparked outrage in those who fear the move might fuel increasing opioid addiction among young Americans.

Opioid use is now a significant problem for the pediatrician and the families served in pediatric practices. Whereas patients with a prior history of drug use, misuse, or suspicions of drug misuse have long been studied, monitored, screened, and treated for adverse outcomes, opioid-naïve patients with legitimate medical reasons for opioid prescriptions may represent a greater risk for opioid complications.

As problems with opioid use and abuse in the United States increasingly emerge to create what is being called a public health epidemic, clinicians are facing the great challenge of trying to provide optimal pain management for their patients while being mindful of the potential deleterious effects of the highly addictive opioids.

A look at the major discoveries and milestones in the opioid epidemic occurring in the United States.

Time and ability may put a damper on a pediatrician’s ability to assess a patient’s risk of a gun-related injury, even though most say prevention of firearm injuries is a priority.