Your role in curbing prescription and OTC drug abuse by adolescents
October 1st 2006Awareness of over-the-counter and prescription drug abuse among adolescents is a first step you can take toward curtailing this worrisome trend. Take care, however, not to risk interfering when patients need these medications.
When children with asthma go swimming, the benefits can be many and long-lasting
October 1st 2006Getting children who have asthma into the water can have remarkable effects on health, the authors' experiences demonstrate. Place a properly structured swimming program on your list of recommendations for these patients, they urge-or put it on your medical community's to-do list.
Wilms tumor: How advances in evaluation and treatment are yielding better outcomes
October 1st 2006A palpable abdominal mass detected during a routine office visit is often the first indication of the presence of this rare but highly treatable tumor of childhood. A child cured of Wilms tumor requires on-going follow-up for potential long-term complications.
New momentum on building a medical home for the child with a chronic health problem
October 1st 2006Care provided by a primary care practice that embraces the medical home model is better organized, more accessible, and less stressful to coordinate-so say parents of children who have special health-care needs. Here is a look at how you and your practice benefit from providing family-centered care within the medical home model.
Getting current on the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease
October 1st 2006Options for treating IBD now include nutritional therapy, probiotics, and biologics. And even therapeutic mainstays, such as steroids and immunomodulators, have undergone improvement. The authors bring you up to date on the newest therapies, the rationale for using them, and their potential for complications.
A new day in preventing meningococcal disease: Sizing up the available vaccines
October 1st 2006The new conjugate vaccine MCV4 promises longer duration of immunity and, perhaps, greater clinical efficacy than the polysaccharide vaccine MPSV4. Questions remain about booster doses, vaccinating young children, and safety.
Editors Commentary: Three in One . . .
October 1st 2006If you are reading this editorial, you've already seen the 2 special supplements to Consultant For Pediatricians that came wrapped with our October issue. The editors of those special issues and I hope that you'll find information in the vaccine and dermatology supplements that you can put to good use in your practice. We hope you'll find the same in our regular issue.
Fractures and joint and muscle pain all increase in the face of overweight
September 13th 2006A recent study concludes that children and adolescents who are overweight are more likely than normal-weight counterparts to suffer bone fractures and have joint and muscle pain. The study, sponsored by The National Institutes of Health, also found that overweight youth were more likely than non-overweight youth to develop changes in the knee joint that make movement more difficult.
Share these germ-avoidance strategies for school children with parents
September 13th 2006The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 22 million school days are lost annually from the common cold. The CDC also reports that students who fail to practice proper hand hygiene miss, on average, 3.02 days every school year because of contagious illness. Add to that fact these two observations: One-fifth of the population of the United States attends or works in a school and some bacteria can live two hours or longer on such surfaces as cafeteria tables and desks!
Cardiac US reveals link between childhood obesity and pulmonary hypertension
September 13th 2006A report released in June at the 17th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American Society of Echocardiography in Baltimore, Md., describes how ultrasonography of the heart can identify pulmonary hypertension in children who are obese and experience sleep apnea. The finding was an outcome of a study of the prevalence of pulmonary hypertension in children who have systemic hypertension.