News

Since the days of Edward Jenner, the father of smallpox vaccine, there have been parents who have been vaccine hesitant, and at times vaccine refusers. After Benjamin Franklin’s son died of smallpox, he lamented the fact that he had prohibited his son from getting the smallpox vaccine due to his concerns over safety.

A recent investigation found that compared with healthy-weight children, those who are obese show significantly less brain activation in regions associated with cognitive control after viewing familiar food logos, such as McDonald’s “golden arches.” This suggests that obese children may be more responsive to food advertising than their normal-weight peers.

More than 90% of pediatric subspecialists who diagnose and manage attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in young children deviate from current recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry regarding treatment of pediatric ADHD.

New research from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center suggests that both under-the-tongue drops and injections work well to alleviate the symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and asthma in children.

Preliminary data from a randomized, double-blind trial reveal that giving preterm babies daily supplementation of 800 international units (IU) of vitamin D reduces vitamin insufficiency that may lead to softening and weakening of their bones.

Intellectual disability (ID) is a condition with a prevalence of 1% to 3%. As a result, most pediatricians will be required to address and manage this condition on a regular basis.

With rapidly increasing access to mobile devices and the Internet, adolescents spend increasingly less time communicating in person and more time communicating electronically. Health care providers may be in a position to harness the power of novel mobile and electronic technologies to improve communication with adolescent patients and potentially enhance their health outcomes.

You are called to the emergency room to evaluate a healthy 2-year-old boy with black spots on his legs that were noted yesterday evening. His younger brother developed similar black spots this morning. The boys are healthy, and the lesions are not symptomatic and appear to be superficial.

Children and adolescents who undergo a diagnostic computed tomography (CT) scan are 24% more likely to develop cancer in their lifetimes than patients who do not receive the testing, new research has found.

Feeling the pressure to succeed academically, 10% of teenagers are using someone else’s prescription stimulant medications-“study drugs”-to do better in school. Surprisingly, only 1% of parents are aware that their children are abusing these medicines.

Homelessness can have a lifelong impact on children’s health. New recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) provide pediatricians with a plan to address the adverse health effects of housing insecurity on homeless children and their families.

After several 5 mg doses of clonidine, this 5 kg boy became extremely lethargic and hypotensive. What went wrong?

About 17% of children and teenagers in the United States suffer from a mental disorder, according to a first-of-its-kind federal report.

It seems that major barriers exist to optimizing adolescents’ sexual health. A new study finds that contrary to recommended guidelines, primary care physicians are not routinely screening teenagers for sexually transmitted diseases.

Babies born to women who received the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine lose their initial immunity to measles about 2 months sooner than babies born to women who have been naturally infected with the virus.

In spite of reductions in cigarette smoking, adolescents are as likely to use chewing tobacco and snuff today as they were at the turn of the century.

Low-powder chalk-frequently chosen by educators over older high-powder counterparts to keep hands and classrooms cleaner-can trigger asthma and allergy symptoms in milk-allergic children.

A subdermal once-yearly implant containing the gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) histrelin delays puberty in children with central precocious puberty for up to 5 years and perhaps longer.

A very low risk of intussusception exists after rotavirus vaccination, usually 3 to 6 days after the first vaccine dose, but the benefits of vaccination far outweigh the risks.

Nearly half of all teenaged drivers in the United States admit to texting while driving (TWD). What makes that statistic even more alarming is that for the first time a national study links TWD with other high-risk driving behaviors.

Two studies from China and Denmark have associated spending time outdoors in daylight with a reduced risk of myopia, or nearsightedness, in children.

Just-published expert recommendations from the American Acne and Rosacea Society are the first evidence-based clinical guidelines for the management of acne vulgaris in children and adolescents.

One in 5 children and teenagers at risk for suicide lives in a home where firearms are present, and 15% of these kids at risk know how to access both the guns and bullets, said researchers at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting this week in Washington, DC.

Moms and dads who clean their babies’ pacifiers by sucking on them may be boosting their infants’ immune systems by passing along oral microbes that help deter allergy development.

AHRQ finds knowledge, research are lacking when attempting to find what works or does not work for helping children exposed to trauma.

A federal court ruling makes it possible for teenage girls under age 17 to obtain the morning after pill without a prescription.

Intimate partner violence impacts children today and tomorrow.