News

A new study reports that the percentage of pediatricians using electronic health records (EHRs) has increased from 58% to 79% since 2009, when passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act implemented incentives for adopting EHRs.

The US Food and Drug Administration has awarded a research grant to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to study the safety of an adult laxative commonly used in children.

Young children are more likely to get a second dose of influenza vaccine when their parents receive reminders by text message, a new study reports.

Although some phthalates have been banned from children’s toys, infants can be exposed to the plastic softening chemicals when vinyl crib mattress covers emit them into the air in response to heat, new research reveals.

High intravenous doses of vancomycin given to hospitalized children to treat antibiotic-resistant infections can increase the risk of acute kidney damage, a small study shows.

Even though most parents believe teenagers should transfer from a pediatrician to adult healthcare by 18 years of age, fewer than half think their adolescent can manage his or her own care. Only 30% of 18-year-olds make the transition, according to a recent national poll.

You are called to the nursery to evaluate a vigorous, healthy-appearing, small-for-gestational-age, full-term, 2-day-old boy with a blister on the vertex of his scalp that was noted in the delivery room.

Investigators conducted a retrospective multicenter study to assess how well the standard Kocher predictive algorithm differentiates between children with Kingella kingae infection of the hip and those with transient synovitis.

Does palate expansion treat nocturnal enuresis?

To determine the answer to this question, investigators asked an online panel of 1000 parents of children aged 6 to 17 years to view a succession of brief movie scenes containing either violent or sexual content.

Boston Children’s bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) rehospitalization rates for children aged 1 and 2 years are dramatically lower than the national average. Lawrence Rhein, MD, a neonatologist and pulmonologist, and director of the Center for Healthy Infant Lung Development, Boston Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts, says it’s not high-priced technology that keeps children with this serious lung disease out of the hospital.

A 9-month-old girl is brought to the emergency department for evaluation after 3 days of poor feeding and 1 day of decreased activity. The day prior to presentation, she was no longer crawling or pulling herself to stand. On the morning of evaluation, she is no longer able to lift her head.

This article offers a primer for understanding gender and addressing gender-nonconforming, gender-expansive, and transgender children and their families.

There has been much discussion both for and against Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements. This article explains how a permanent board certification program for physicians transitioned into MOC recertification and discusses the controversies surrounding the current program.

Neonatal abstinence syndrome that occurs in a newborn following birth is attributed to the withdrawal of opioids, prescription medications, or illicit drugs that were ingested by the mother during pregnancy. Because symptoms may or may not be present at birth, early screening and pharmacologic treatment can stabilize an infant experiencing narcotic withdrawal.

Bronchiolitis, an acute inflammatory injury of the bronchioles, is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract infection in children aged younger than 12 months.

Children get about 10% of the federal budget, while 43% goes to the “adult” expenditures under Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, says an analysis from the Urban Institute in Washington, DC.

Despite the advent of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) and ongoing attempts to identify more accurate diagnostic tools, neonatal sepsis or bacteremia remains a common and potentially deadly occurrence, particularly in very-low-birth-weight (VLBW,

We’re still hearing from you about our second annual Issues & Attitudes Survey, such as these comments from your pediatric colleague in Succasunna, NJ.

Contrary to current guidelines, children born before 37 weeks’ gestation should be considered at high risk for complications of influenza, a new meta-analysis shows.

Tell patients and families about medical errors and apologize for any harm done, the authors of a recent Ethics Rounds article in Pediatrics counsel pediatricians.

An anesthetic, given by nasal spray, is a safe, needle-free alternative to opiates for relieving moderate to severe pain in children with limb injuries, according to the first randomized, controlled trial to compare intranasal analgesics in children in the emergency department.

Infants have borne the brunt of the worst outbreak of pertussis, or whooping cough, in almost 70 years in California, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

In a new policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has expanded its recommendations for giving pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae to high-risk older children and adolescents.

Newly developed neonatal nomograms enable healthcare providers and parents to follow weight changes in exclusively breastfed babies during the first days of life and identify abnormal weight loss patterns, as described in a recent study.

Many chest radiographs performed on children don’t benefit them clinically and expose them to unnecessary radiation, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

Sexually active teenaged boys can benefit from circumcision and should be given that information, according to new draft recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in the Federal Register.

The bad news is that office visits for atopic dermatitis are on the rise; the good news is that the condition usually responds to topical therapy and vigilant skin care, according to a clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Only 18 states require that children on Medicaid who have elevated blood lead levels receive in-home follow-up services mandated by Medicaid’s Early Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment benefit, according to a recent report.

Pediatricians should include oral health assessment, maintenance, and anticipatory guidance in their care of young children, a new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends.