Surviving cancer is definitely a good thing, and no group of patients has benefited more from recent advances in cancer care than the youngest patients. Among cases of the most common childhood cancers, five year survival rates have jumped from 25% in the 1970s to 80% today.
But because young survivors are more likely to live years, …
As any parent knows, children, especially infants and toddlers, like to put things in their mouths, and the smaller the object, it seems, the more attractive it becomes for tiny appetites.
Writing in the journal Pediatrics, researchers at Georgetown University and George Washington University report on a disturbing rise in youngsters …
In all the time I’ve covered health and medicine issues, nothing has been more polarizing than the debate over childhood immunizations. And while scientific evidence continues to mount against a causal connection between vaccines and developmental disorders such as autism, there was one concern voiced by some parents that seemed to …
New research published today in the journal Pediatrics finds that the number of children being admitted to the hospital for antibiotic-resistant staph infections has surged dramatically in recent years. As the Associated Press reports, the rate of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus infections (MRSA) grew from 2 per 1,000
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Little ones whose childcare providers emphasize activities that build language skills, reading ability and cooperation in games may reap the benefits through their teen years, according to new research published today in the journal Child Development. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine tracked more than 1,000 children
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When given a small amount of sugar beforehand, babies are less likely to cry when receiving injections, according to new research published in the May 12 issue of the Archives of Disease in Childhood. A team of researchers from Canada, Australia and Brazil reviewed 14 studies examining how a boost of sugar affected pain experienced by
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Studies have linked excessive TV-watching in young children to all manner of ills: an increased risk of childhood obesity and high blood pressure, problems with attention and language development, and a decrease in the quality of relationships between children and parents.
Now new research, published Monday in the Archives of …
Not knowing where your food will come from, where you will live, or if there will be heat in your home day to day or week to week can certainly be stressful for anyone. But, according to new research published this week in the journal Pediatrics, the cumulative effect of these hardships can be detrimental to children’s health. The impact
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A large scale study of children between the ages of 2 to 19 finds that a growing number of young children are extremely obese—or have a body mass index greater than 35 kg/m. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children who are in the 85th up to 95th percentile (or have a BMI higher than 25 kg/m,
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A recent surge in eye injuries among small children caused by exposure to capsules of liquid detergent prompted eye specialists to issue a warning about keeping the soap packets out of children’s reach. Writing in the British Medical Journal this week, a team of British eye doctors said that problems caused by exposure to the capsules
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This past Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a new policy statement on choking prevention for children, recommending, among other things, changes in government oversight of food choking hazards, and asking food manufacturers to consider redesigning potentially dangerous food products, such as hot dogs and hard …
In the last three decades, chronic health problems including obesity, asthma and behavioral and learning problems have been steadily increasing among children. To get a hold of the magnitude of the problem, researchers from MassGeneral Hospital for Children analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Cohort,
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Holding on to the belief that children will shed their “baby fat” as they get older may be perpetuating the childhood obesity epidemic, and laying a foundation for obesity later in life among overweight tots. According to 2006 data from the Centers for Disease Control, 16% of American children were obese, and 32% overweight, with a
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