News

With heated debate surrounding the very definition of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), said Brian A Shaw, MD, this topic yields more unanswered questions today than it did over a decade ago.

Promising avenues for addressing peanut allergies include early-exposure preventive strategies, improved testing methods, and immunotherapeutic treatment approaches, said Robert A Wood, MD, FAAP. He spoke during a session titled “Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy: What’s New?”

Many pediatricians believe that if they pay $30 for an immunization, as long as a payer reimburses them more than $30, they’re OK, said Chip Hart. The fact is, that’s not the case, he explained during his presentation “The Business of Immunization: Protecting Kids without Destroying Your Practice.”

Delivering unsettling news to patients and families demands at least as much listening as talking, said Emma Jones, MD, and Christopher Collura, MD, during their interactive session “Breaking Bad News: A Roadmap for the Most Difficult Conversations,” which allowed attendees to role-play these skills.

Not every vomit-prone infant requires acid-blocking pharmaceuticals, said Jonathan Teitelbaum, MD, FAAP, in his presentation “Burning Questions about First-Line Therapies for GER/GERD.” In the pediatric and adult gastrointestinal community, he said, there’s a general sense that acid-blocking medications are overused, and that pediatricians potentially believe these drugs are needed in cases in which they probably will not help.

As the number of clots in hospitalized children continues climbing, said Shannon L Carpenter, MD, MS, pediatricians must know when and how to screen for risk factors.1 With many serious chronic illnesses now being treated more effectively, pediatricians are seeing increasing numbers of children who previously might not have survived very long, she said during the presentation “Clots and Kids: An Increasing Problem.”

To date, said Sarah C Armstrong, MD, FAAP, treatments for pediatric obesity have largely been limited to behavioral counseling and addressing comorbidities.

Sparing a child the rod of corporal punishment can circumvent a lifetime of adverse health consequences, said Victor Vieth, JD, in his presentation “Spanking: The Why and How of Counseling Families on Alternative Discipline Measures.”

Avoiding misconceptions and practice gaps are keys to recognizing the most common abdominal emergencies in community pediatrics, said Joan E Shook, MD, MBA, FAAP.

A survey of 280 physicians and 256 advanced practice clinicians at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that the vast majority worked while sick at least once in the preceding year and would expect to work with symptoms of contagion, including fever, diarrhea, and acute respiratory tract symptoms.

A pediatric early warning score (PEWS) predicts patient deterioration after transfer to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), according to a retrospective review of patients who were transferred to the PICU at a large children’s hospital during an 8-month period.

Increasingly, reports are emerging that some children and adolescents become preoccupied with Internet gaming. These “gamers” may demonstrate compulsivity and exclude other interests as a result of online gaming that leads to clinically significant impairment or distress.

Are blood cultures useful for managing SSTIs in immunocompetent children?

Maternal exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) during pregnancy, even at low levels, is associated with a decrease in gross motor function among young children, a study in 175 nonsmoking mothers and their infants showed.

Parents of a 6-year-old boy bring him to your office for urgent consultation for a rash that blossomed on his trunk and extremities 2 weeks ago following an upper respiratory infection and that shows no sign of improving. What’s the diagnosis?

Two siblings, 5-year-old Emmanuel and 3-year-old Cassandra, are brought to your emergency department (ED) in July 2014 by their parents. Both children are up to date on their immunizations and have not had significant medical problems in the past. They were referred to you by their pediatrician for 1 day of high fevers, rash, and pain in the extremities. Emmanuel had 1 episode of gum bleeding last night. His sister has been unwilling to walk since this morning.

Physicians and parents are using a variety of health-related gadgets and gizmos that communicate with our smartphones and tablets. These range from fitness devices that monitor daily exercise, to glucometers used by diabetics to monitor sugar levels, to sphygmomanometers used to measure blood pressure.

There is precious little pediatricians do or are encouraged to do during clinical visits for young children to help lower the risk of obesity, a pediatric researcher told an Academy of Medicine panel in October.

Teenagers who spend most of their time online comparing their lives to others may experience increased depression and anxiety. See what you can do to help.

‘Itch-scratch-itch’….is a typical chief complaint for many children who present to the pediatric primary care office. The infant is irritable and the mother wants the infant to stop being irritable; the child, or adolescent wants to stop ‘feeling itchy’; and their parents want medications that will immediately return the skin to normal. What a dilemma!

Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS), a variant of migraine, was first described in the literature over a century ago, but in 2015, it remains commonly unrecognized and misdiagnosed.

Parents who decline or are non-compliant with medical recommendations are not only putting their child at risk, but also the pediatrician, said James P Scibilia, MD, a private practitioner in Beaver, Pennsylvania, and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Medical Liability and Risk Management.

Management of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children is evolving as a result of changes in the microbial etiology of the disease and advances in diagnostic techniques.

Evidence-based recommendations on selective and universal lipid screening in childhood released by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in 2011 were endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and are integrated in the Bright Futures guidelines on pediatric health maintenance.

Clinicians should refrain from making a diagnosis of “breast milk jaundice” because it is often inappropriate, results in unnecessary discontinuation of breastfeeding, and by delaying accurate identification of the etiology for the symptom, may expose the child to undue risk of severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia.

Many of the prescriptions written for management of children’s behavioral/mental health issues stem from situations in which families, practitioners, or both feel that medication is the only practical solution to a child’s chronic or acute needs. Nonmedication-based solutions, however, are more practical than they may seem, said Lawrence Wissow, MD, MPH, professor of health, behavior, and society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remains an important public health issue as it ranks as the third leading cause of infant mortality, but co-sleeping is a reality. A session discusses how to effectively communicate safe sleeping practices with adults.