News

A pediatrician who is an expert on the effects of media on children-and who, not incidentally, helped write the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines on restricting media use by children aged younger than 2 years-says that 30 to 60 minutes per day spent using an iPad or similar device may be just fine for the age group.

Researchers think they now know why children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit the hallmark symptom of withdrawing into their own inner world: They are paying attention to all the information their brains are processing while they are seemingly at rest.

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently weighed in on whether primary care behavioral interventions are effective in reducing use of illicit drugs and pharmaceuticals for nonmedical reasons in children and adolescents.

The majority of all pediatric Clostridium difficile infections are the result of a recent course of antibiotics prescribed by a physician for some other condition, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Crystal Murcia, PhD, of Contemporary Pediatrics talks to Emalee Flaherty, MD, from Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, about the recent American Academy of Pediatrics update on evaluating child fractures for physical abuse.

As if reasons didn’t already abound as to why parents shouldn’t smoke, parental cigarette smoking deleteriously affects children’s vascular health up to 25 years after exposure, putting kids at greater risk as adults for stroke and cardiovascular disease, according to the first prospective study of its kind.

The presence of a television in a child’s bedroom is associated with weight gain beyond that associated with just watching television in general, according to a recent study.

Only 12% of uninsured parents take breastfeeding classes, according to a new poll.

Having had an immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated allergy to a specific food may predispose children to another, more dangerous type of allergy to the same food.

See photos of Dr. Katrina Mitchell's work with burn-injured children in northwestern Tanzania, highlighting the need for greater global attention.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued a policy statement updating its recommendations for off-label drug use in the pediatric population.

About 1 in 10 pediatricians and family physicians has seriously considered not providing childhood vaccines because of cost, according to the results of a recent survey.

Although little is changing about the weight of most of our citizens, we may have made some progress combating the obesity epidemic among our preschoolers.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) continues to oppose retail-based clinics (RBCs) as sources of primary care for infants, children, and adolescents, according to its most recent policy statement on the subject.

Check out the new and improved iPad app for Contemporary Pediatrics! The app features tons of interactive content and a better way to view our magazine. All issues are completely free!

A comparison of the risk of intussusception after receipt of monovalent versus pentavalent rotavirus vaccine or versus historical background rates of intussusception found that the monovalent vaccine significantly increases that risk.

An elevated level of serum procalcitonin (PCT) in an infant with acute bronchiolitis should raise a clinician’s suspicions that the child may have a bacterial coinfection, a new study indicates.

Participation in parent training groups can effectively improve parenting practices and behavior in young children with disruptive behaviors, a randomized trial conducted at 11 diverse pediatric practices around Boston demonstrated.

Here is Dr. Michael Burke’s choice of the 10 most helpful articles he reviewed for Journal Club in Contemporary Pediatrics during the past 12 months.

Don’t let mild early symptoms delay diagnosis of Kingella kingae osteoarticular infections.

Twenty years of research makes it clear that between 5% and 20% of pupils in schools are bullied and between 2% and 20% of students are bullies, according to a new book from the American Public Health Association (APHA).

The number of states with good booster seat laws has risen from 0 in 1989 to 31 plus the District of Columbia, according to Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (AHAS). However, no state passed a new booster seat law in 2013.

Far from being a problem “somewhere else,” child sexual exploitation is far more visible that you might think.

The number of medically uninsured children between 2008 and 2012 dropped to 5.3 million, and the coverage rate rose to 92.8%, according to the US Census Bureau American Community Survey. That might be the good news, but currently 70% of uninsured children are eligible but not enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), says the Urban Institute.

You are asked to evaluate a healthy 18-year-old girl with a history of “mosquito bites” on her arms and legs that appeared after her first pregnancy 2 years ago. Although not symptomatic, the lesions become redder and more swollen intermittently, particularly when accidentally scratched or rubbed.

Pediatricians are most likely the first clinicians to discover that a teenager is engaging in self-harming behavior, and it’s their evaluation of the context and severity of the self-injury as well as their empathetic relationship with the patient that sets the stage for treatment.

With a few tweaks and some patience, EHR technology won’t remain burdensome.

Children can be victims of sex trafficking without ever leaving home, and it is almost certain that pediatricians are encountering trafficked victims every day without realizing it.