'My job involves giving children a sense of control over their environment'

Rob Beadel is employed by Buckinghamshire county council to develop policies and train school staff in dealing with vulnerable children. Photograph: Alamy

Name: Dr Rob Beadel

Age: 53

Job: Senior educational psychologist

Council: Buckinghamshire county council

What is an educational psychologist? Educational psychologists advise local authorities in developing policies around education, carry out psychological assessments on children and train school staff in dealing with vulnerable children. We also have a role supporting families throughout Buckinghamshire..

Describe a typical day in your job: What I do is very interesting because it is so varied. It can involve seeing children, or working with local authority policy and practice at quite a senior level.

What kind of children do you work with? Children with no school place, or those with complex behavioural difficulties or significant mental health conditions. We also work with schools to produce materials for children who move home a lot, such as those whose parents are in the military. Military children who have lost a parent because of war or injury would be a priority group for us.

How do you help them? People have to adapt to new environments and psychology can help us understand what that means and how best to do that. That's why we developed "my passport" – a booklet that children take with them when they move schools. They can fill out information in it about themselves and their family, giving staff a better understanding of their background and history. The idea is to increase the child's sense of control over their environment so they settle in quicker.

What other interesting projects have you worked on? I've been talking to health professionals about the possible impact of returning veterans who have experienced trauma or post traumatic stress disorder and the possible impact that will have on their children.

What are the biggest challenges you face in your job? I work with some extremely vulnerable children and families, which makes demands on you personally. I think the variety of the job is an advantage – it makes it interesting – but it requires a very wide skill set. It's also keeping up to date with psychological literature; we are expected to do that. I have just finished a four year doctorate that I was doing concurrently with my job.

How do cuts and the changes to education the government is bringing in affect you? One of the ways we have reacted is to develop our services to make money. Schools that have been turned into academies have more control over their budgets and they can buy additional services from us now, such as training. So we've actually recruited additional psychologists who work in a different way.

How do you lead your team? We have 35 psychologists, some part-time some full-time, and it's very much a collaborative approach. The psychology of interaction is a crucial part of what I do, and giving advice to people isn't always the right thing to do. It is about working as part of a team as opposed to telling people what you think they ought to do.

What made you decide to be a psychologist? I was a teacher originally. I spent over 10 years working in a school with children with challenging behaviour and I became curious as to why they behaved the way they did and the best ways to help them. I decided to do a degree in psychology, and that led me to where I am now.

What made you decide to work in local government? The core of it for me is around public service ethos. Where I'm more comfortable is working with children and families who have the highest needs and who are the most vulnerable. And working for a local authority allows me to work in policy development as well at various levels.

What advice would you give to aspiring educational psychologists? Do a properly recognised psychology degree and get some experience working with children and young people and their families in whatever context. I think that's quite a good career route.

Who inspires you? Aneurin Bevan with the National Health Service – that ethos of helping other people but having organisations and structures that can do that.

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Different brain organization identified in autistic children who excel at math

Main Category: Autism
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 20 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Different brain organization identified in autistic children who excel at math

Children with autism and average IQs consistently demonstrated superior math skills compared with nonautistic children in the same IQ range, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

"There appears to be a unique pattern of brain organization that underlies superior problem-solving abilities in children with autism," said Vinod Menon, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a member of the Child Health Research Institute at Packard Children's.

The autistic children's enhanced math abilities were tied to patterns of activation in a particular area of their brains - an area normally associated with recognizing faces and visual objects.

Menon is senior author of the study, published online Aug. 17 in Biological Psychiatry. Postdoctoral scholar Teresa Iuculano, PhD, is the lead author.

Children with autism have difficulty with social interactions, especially interpreting nonverbal cues in face-to-face conversations. They often engage in repetitive behaviors and have a restricted range of interests.

But in addition to such deficits, children with autism sometimes exhibit exceptional skills or talents, known as savant abilities. For example, some can instantly recall the day of the week of any calendar date within a particular range of years - for example, that May 21, 1982, was a Friday. And some display superior mathematical skills.

"Remembering calendar dates is probably not going to help you with academic and professional success," Menon said. "But being able to solve numerical problems and developing good mathematical skills could make a big difference in the life of a child with autism."

The idea that people with autism could employ such skills in jobs, and get satisfaction from doing so, has been gaining ground in recent years.

The participants in the study were 36 children, ages 7 to 12. Half had been diagnosed with autism. The other half was the control group. Each group had 14 boys and four girls. (Autism disproportionately affects boys.) All participants had IQs in the normal range and showed normal verbal and reading skills on standardized tests administered as part of the recruitment process for the study. But on the standardized math tests that were administered, the children with autism outperformed children in the control group.

After the math test, researchers interviewed the children to assess which types of problem-solving strategies each had used: Simply remembering an answer they already knew; counting on their fingers or in their heads; or breaking the problem down into components - a comparatively sophisticated method called decomposition. The children with autism displayed greater use of decomposition strategies, suggesting that more analytic strategies, rather than rote memory, were the source of their enhanced abilities.

Then, the children worked on solving math problems while their brain activity was measured in an MRI scanner, in which they had to lie down and remain still. The brain scans of the autistic children revealed an unusual pattern of activity in the ventral temporal occipital cortex, an area specialized for processing visual objects, including faces.

"Our findings suggest that altered patterns of brain organization in areas typically devoted to face processing may underlie the ability of children with autism to develop specialized skills in numerical problem solving," Iuculano said.

Menon added that previous research "has focused almost exclusively on weaknesses in children with autism. Our study supports the idea that the atypical brain development in autism can lead, not just to deficits, but also to some remarkable cognitive strengths. We think this can be reassuring to parents."

The research team is now gathering data from a larger group of children with autism to learn more about individual differences in their mathematical abilities. Menon emphasized that not all children with autism have superior math abilities, and that understanding the neural basis of variations in problem-solving abilities is an important topic for future research.

"These findings not only empirically confirm that high-functioning children with autism have especially strong number-problem-solving abilities, but show that this cognitive strength in math is based on different patterns of functional brain organization," said Carl Feinstein, MD, director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Packard Children's and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the School of Medicine. He was not involved in the study.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our autism section for the latest news on this subject.

Other Stanford co-authors are postdoctoral scholars Miriam Rosenberg-Lee, PhD, and Kaustubh Supekar, PhD; social science research assistants Charles Lynch and Amirah Khouzam; Jennifer Phillips, PhD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a clinical psychologist at Packard Children's; and Lucina Uddin, PhD, instructor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

The study was funded by grants from the Singer Foundation, the Stanford Institute for Neuro-Innovation & Translational Neurosciences, and the National Institutes of Health (grant MH084164).

Stanford University Medical Center

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Risk of autism in further children - study findings

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Main Category: Autism
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 20 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Risk of autism in further children - study findings

A large population-based study from Denmark has followed siblings for the risk for autism spectrum disorders, finding different likelihoods depending on birth year, and also whether brothers or sisters were half- or full-siblings.

The study uses records of all children born in Denmark between 1980 and 2004. It is the first study of its kind, say the authors, to follow such a large number of children - around 1.5 million - and to consider the "recurrence risk" of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) for both full- and half-siblings.

The study - published online in JAMA Pediatrics by researchers from Aarhus University - compared children who had an older sibling with ASD against those whose older sibling did not have ASD.

According to the authors, 30% of all ASD cases are childhood autism, and the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders has increased over the past 20 years.

The study shows that between 1980 and 2004, the recurrence risks for ASDs ranged between 4.5% and 10.5%, higher than the risk of autism spectrum disorders found across the Danish population, of 1.18%.

Additionally, the researchers found there was an almost seven-fold greater risk for an autism spectrum disorder if an older sibling had an ASD diagnosis, compared with families in which the older sibling did not have a disorder.

For children with the same mother, the recurrence risk was 7.5% for full-siblings and 2.4% for half-siblings.

For children with the same father, the recurrence risk was 7.4% for full-siblings, but the researchers not that there was "no statistically significant increased risk" among half-siblings.

The authors note that the reason the risk is higher for half-siblings who share a mother may be due to the fact that they share genes from their mother, and they also share "exposures derived from their mother's intrauterine environment and perinatal history" across her different pregnancies.

An important issue to address from the study, say the researchers, is that parents who have a child with an ASD may choose not to have any more children. This phenomenon is known as stoppage, and they say it may result in an underestimate of the recurrence risk.

The authors conclude the study by saying:

"The difference in the recurrence risk between full- and half-siblings supports the role of genetics in ASDs, while the significant recurrence risk in maternal half-siblings may support the role of factors associated with pregnancy and the maternal intrauterine environment in ASDs."

The results should be reassuring to parents who have a child with an ASD if they are thinking of having other children, note the researchers, because the recurrence risk they found is "substantially lower than recent reports from smaller clinic-based populations."

?Researchers from Duke University recently linked induced labor and autism risk.

How do parents navigate care for their children with disabilities and other needs? Here's a detailed analysis: Getting support for children with disabilities.

Written by Marie Ellis

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Visit our autism section for the latest news on this subject.

“Recurrence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Fulland Half-Siblings and Trends Over Time,” Therese K. Grønborg, et al., JAMA Pediatrics, doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.2259, 19 August 2013.

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HIV-infected children benefit from Improved caregiver training

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Caregivers / Homecare
Article Date: 19 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
HIV-infected children benefit from Improved caregiver training

Children born with HIV can live longer and richer lives if their caregivers receive training in ways to enhance the children's development, according to research led by Michigan State University.

The program also reduces depression in the caregivers which, in most cases, are the children's HIV-infected mothers, MSU researcher Michael Boivin and colleagues report in The Journal of Pediatrics.

An HIV diagnosis once all but guaranteed an African child would die within a few years, but more effective and widely available drugs have made it commonplace for children there to live with the disease into or beyond adolescence.

Still, with gravely ill caregivers - many of whom must also work long hours in the fields to provide food - these kids miss out on the affection and regular interaction that are crucial for their physical, social and cognitive development in early childhood, said Boivin, professor in the departments of Psychiatry and of Neurology and Ophthalmology.

"Better access to treatment has clinically stabilized these children and extended their lives, but their quality of life is still very much at risk," Boivin said. "The effects of the disease on their development and the compromised caregiving available to them compound the public health challenges already faced by African children in resource-poor settings."

Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study involved a training program called Mediational Intervention for Sensitizing Caregivers, or MISC, which uses day-to-day interaction at home to enhance children's social skills, language and cognitive ability.

"MISC is about training mothers or other caregivers on ways they can be sensitive to their child's natural tendencies to learn, and to direct those tendencies in everyday life to enrich the child's development," said Boivin.

The study involved 120 preschool-aged children with HIV living in rural Uganda. Their primary caregivers were randomly assigned to receive childcare training through MISC or through an education program focused on improving children's health and nutrition.

After a year, the children whose caregivers received the MISC training showed significantly more developmental progress than the others, with particularly strong gains in memory and learning skills.

Somewhat surprisingly, there were significantly fewer deaths from diseases that take advantage of the patient's compromised immune system in the MISC group than among other children, suggesting the training may help pediatric HIV patients live longer.

Boivin said it could be that MISC-trained caregivers "became more attuned to their children's health needs and were more likely to seek medical help in a timely manner when the children are fighting an opportunistic illness."

Caregivers in the MISC group also were significantly less depressed six months into the study than those in the other group, perhaps because of the social support they received during MISC training.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
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Attacking the architecture of the cancer cell may help children with hard-to-treat neuroblastoma

Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology;  Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Melanoma / Skin Cancer
Article Date: 19 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Attacking the architecture of the cancer cell may help children with hard-to-treat neuroblastoma

Children with a particularly lethal cancer could benefit from potentially life-saving treatment, following breakthrough work led by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

A whole new class of drugs has been developed that, for the first time, targets the structure of the cancer cell.

UNSW researchers have provided proof that the therapy is effective in two types of cancers in the animal model. They are neuroblastoma, a cancer that affects children, and melanoma. The resulting paper has been published in Cancer Research.

"It is much like what happens when you see a building collapse on the TV news," says the lead author, Professor Peter Gunning, from UNSW Medicine. "Our drug causes the structure of the cancer cell to collapse and it happens relatively quickly.

"We've been surprised and excited by the potential of this treatment," says Professor Gunning, the Head of the Oncology Research Unit, in the School of Medical Sciences.

The drug looks to be effective against every type of cancer cell.

The work could lead to an entirely new type of chemotherapy, which could have more positive outcomes for hard-to-treat cancers and have fewer long-term side-effects for survivors.

"Attacking the architecture of the cancer cell has long been an obvious target, but until now, attempts have failed because the building blocks of the structure of the cancer cell are also used to build the heart and muscle, so the toxicity was unacceptable," says the first author on the paper, Dr Justine Stehn, also from the Oncology Research Unit.

But the team recognised there was a second "building block", the protein tropomyosin, in the cancer cell structure that was sufficiently different from those in the heart and muscle, which could be safely targeted.

This latest work is vindication for Professor Gunning's team which was alone in its theory about the architecture of cells. The UNSW team is believed to be the only one working in this area internationally.

As toxicity had been a major stumbling block in earlier research, possible funders were scarce. Professor Gunning says the financial support of The Kids' Cancer Project is the only way this research has been possible.

"This research opens up a door on something the pharmaceutical industry and science gave up on 25 years ago," says the CEO of the Kids' Cancer Project, Peter Neilson.

"It shows that our founder's faith in this work was right," he says. "We will continue to invest in this and we are determined to see it going into clinical trials in children with hard-to-treat neuroblastoma.

"Normally it would go into adults and it would take 7 to 8 years to be trialled in kids," says Mr Neilson.

The first clinical trials are expected in 2015.

"Cancer in children is not the result of lifestyle issues, so you're relying on medical research to see any improvement in survival rates," says the Dean of UNSW Medicine, Professor Peter Smith, who is also the Chair of the Research Advisory Committee of The Kids' Cancer Project.

Childhood cancer is the single greatest cause of death from disease in Australian children, with three children a week dying from the condition.

"In the 1960s, less than 10 per cent of children survived cancer and now it's 80 per cent," says Professor Smith, who campaigned to have chemotherapy used in children in the 1970s, dramatically improving survival rates. "That improvement is all down to research. So it shows how important these partnerships are."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our neurology / neuroscience section for the latest news on this subject.

A Novel Class of Anticancer Compounds Targets the Actin Cytoskeleton in Tumor Cells, doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-12-4501

This work is also supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Cancer Council NSW, the Cancer Institute NSW and the Office for Health and Medical Research, NSW Ministry of Health.

University of New South Wales

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Soda drinks may make children more aggressive and distracted

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Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 18 Aug 2013 - 2:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Soda drinks may make children more aggressive and distracted

Soft drinks may cause young children to become aggressive and develop attention problems, according to a study published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

Researchers from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, the University of Vermont and Harvard School of Public Health, studied around 3,000 children aged 5.

All children were enrolled in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study - a cohort study that follows mothers and children from 20 large cities in the US.

The researchers asked the mothers of the children to report their child's soft drink consumption. Their child's behavior in the 2 months prior to the study was reported through a "Child Behavior Checklist."

Just over 40% of the children consumed a minimum of one serving of soft drinks a day, while 4% consumed four or more soft drinks a day.

The study results found that any level of soft drink consumption was linked to higher levels of aggressive behavior, as well as more attention and withdrawal problems.

Compared with children who did not consume any soft drinks, those who had four or more soft drinks a day were over twice as likely to:

Researchers claim that soda drinks increase aggressive behavior in children Destroy other people's belongingsPhysically attack others, andGet into fights.

Dr. Shakira Suglia, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, says: "We found that the child's aggressive behavior score increased with every increase in soft drinks servings per day."

The study authors say there has been a lot of research on the effects of soft drinks in adults.

Medical News Today reported a 2007 study that suggested drinking more than one soft drink a day was linked to heart disease.

A study this year from Imperial College London in the UK found a link between drinking one can of soda a day and a higher risk of diabetes.

But the current researchers say the relationship between soft drinks and child behavior has not been closely evaluated until now.

They note that although their study has been unable to identify exactly why soft drinks can cause these behaviors in children, they recommend that limiting or abolishing a child's soft drink consumption could combat this issue.

In spite of this research, it is not all bad press for soft drinks. A recent study from the University of Washington found that a substance in caramelized sugar and cola had some effects in mice against Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Written by Honor Whiteman

Copyright: Medical News Today
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Soft drinks and behavioral problems in young children Elsevier Health Sciences, published online 16 August 2013.

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posted by Jim H. on 18 Aug 2013 at 7:58 am

Soda pop displaces calcium consumption via milk drinking and therefore calcium levels. Higher calcium levels can provide some protection from lead toxicity, which is associated with aggression, attention deficit, anxiety disorders, depression, dementia, tremor, muscle and joint pain, stomach pain, poor coordination, kidney damage, eye damage, and a panoply of other medical, development, learning and behavioral problems. The U.S. homicide rate dropped by half since the 1990s when lead was banned from gasoline.

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posted by Samantha R on 18 Aug 2013 at 2:33 am

My opinion as a canadian, soft drinks must stay because some children are fond of drinking it it will be hard if they will stop it!!!

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School suspension an increased risk for children exposed to lead

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 17 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
School suspension an increased risk for children exposed to lead

Children who are exposed to lead are nearly three times more likely to be suspended from school by the 4th grade than children who are not exposed, according to a new University of Wisconsin-Madison study funded jointly by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Wisconsin Partnership Program Education and Research Committee.

"Students who are suspended from school are at greater risk of dropping out, twice as likely to use tobacco, and more likely to engage in violent behavior later in life," says first author Michael Amato, a doctoral candidate in psychology and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at UW-Madison. "Our study found that children exposed to lead were more than twice as likely to be suspended in the 4th grade, which means that lead may be more responsible for school discipline problems than many people realize."

Nationally, African-American students are three times more likely to be suspended than white students. The same discipline gap was found in the Wisconsin study, but 23 percent of the disparity was explained by differences in rates of lead exposure. Many previous studies have documented disparities in school discipline, but few have specified the underlying factors.

"We knew that lead exposure decreases children's abilities to control their attention and behavior, but we were still surprised that exposed children were so much more likely to be suspended," said Sheryl Magzamen, a public health researcher who also worked on the UW-Madison study. Magzamen is now an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma.

Researchers cross-referenced medical data of nearly 4,000 children exposed to lead with 4th grade disciplinary records in the Milwaukee school district. They found that children who had been exposed to lead were nearly three times more likely to be suspended in the fourth grade than children who had not been exposed, even after controlling for income, race/ethnicity, and gender.

Experiments on non-human animals prove that lead exposure causes decreased attention and decreased control over behavior when subjects are startled or touched. The study team reasoned that if exposed children were affected the same way, they would be more likely to engage in disruptive classroom behaviors that could result in suspension. The results of the study supported that hypothesis.

"Children exposed to lead don't get a fair start and it affects them for their whole lives," adds study coauthor Colleen Moore, a UW-Madison psychology professor emerita affiliated with the Nelson Institute.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-American children are more than twice as likely as whites to have elevated lead levels. The reason, say the researchers, is that African-American children are more likely to live in lower-income neighborhoods and rental housing where lead remains in the buildings and soil, a common situation in major American cities.

Moore notes that in the city of Milwaukee, lead abatement orders are currently active in more than 100 residential properties. "It would be great to see more landlords get on board to make their housing lead-safe," she said. "Future generations depend on it."

"Everyone agrees there is a big problem with disparities in education," says Amato. "This study shows that lead is a part of the problem. There is only one way to reduce lead's harmful effects, and that is to remove it from the environments where children live and play."

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The study will be published in the September 2013 issue of Environmental Research.

University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Children with high-risk neuroblastoma benefit from new, precise proton therapy cancer treatment

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 15 Aug 2013 - 1:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Children with high-risk neuroblastoma benefit from new, precise proton therapy cancer treatment

Proton therapy, using high-energy subatomic particles, may offer a precise, organ-sparing treatment option for children with high-risk forms of neuroblastoma. For patients in a new study of advanced radiation treatment, proton therapy spared the liver and kidneys from unwanted radiation, while zeroing in on its target.

"As survival rates improve for children with neuroblastoma, we need to reduce treatment-related long-term toxicities," said study leader Christine Hill-Kayser, MD, a radiation oncologist in The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's (CHOP) Cancer Center. "Proton beam therapy offers precise targeting with less radiation exposure to healthy tissue."

Hill-Kayser and colleagues published their study online recently in Pediatric Blood & Cancer.

Owing to collaboration between Children's Hospital and radiation oncologists at Penn Medicine, the Roberts Proton Therapy Center, where the study was conducted, is the first proton therapy facility in the U.S. conceived with pediatric patients in mind from the earliest planning stages.

Proton therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma

Protons, the positively charged particles in an atom's nucleus, are used in therapy to destroy DNA in tumors and prevent cancer cells from multiplying. In children, this therapy is often used against spinal tumors. CHOP has recently been directing protons at neuroblastoma, long a special focus of the Hospital's clinical and research programs.

Neuroblastoma, the most common solid tumor of early childhood, strikes the peripheral nervous system, usually appearing as a solid tumor in a young child's chest or abdomen.

Pediatric oncologists have an arsenal of weapons against neuroblastoma, but high-risk forms of this cancer present a particular challenge, often frustrating conventional treatment from the start or recurring in a resistant form.

The current study, said Hill-Kayser, included 13 children with a median age of 3 years who responded well to initial chemotherapy, followed by surgery, more chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, and in some cases, immunotherapy. The advanced radiation treatment aimed to destroy remaining microscopic areas of cancer cells while minimizing toxicity to healthy tissue. Importance of tailoring treatment for each child

In planning radiation treatment for each child, the study team determined that 11 patients should receive proton therapy, and that two other patients, because of their specific anatomy and the location of their tumors, should receive intensity-modulated X-ray therapy (IMXT). In IMXT, radiologists sculpt the radiation emitted from 7 different angles to modify radiation dosages in and around the targeted area.

None of the 13 patients had local disease recurrence or acute organ toxicity. For 11 of them, proton therapy provided the best combination of target coverage and organ sparing. "Protons are heavier than the particles in X-rays and have more stopping power," said Hill-Kayser. "They deposit 90 percent of their energy precisely at the tumor site, with nearly zero radiation away from the tumor. That protects healthy organs - which, as growing tissues, are especially vulnerable to radiation damage in young children."

The fact that individual characteristics made IMXT preferable to proton therapy in two children, said Hill-Kayser, underscores the need to meticulously customize radiation treatment to each patient. Overall, the current study shows that proton therapy should be considered for children with high-risk neuroblastoma. She added, "To better assess the use of proton therapy against high-risk neuroblastoma, we'll need to study larger numbers of patients and do long-term follow-up. However, this represents a great start."

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Co-authors of this study were Robert Lustig, MD, Zelig Tochner, MD, and Stefan Both, PhD; like Hill-Kayser, all are from the Department of Radiation Oncology of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Co-authors Anne Reilly, MD, Naomi Balamuth, MD, Richard Womer, MD, John Maris, MD, Stephan Grupp, MD, PhD, and Rochelle Bagatell, MD, are from the Cancer Center for Children at CHOP.

Hill-Kayser et al, “Proton versus photon radiation therapy for patients with high-risk neuroblastoma: The need for a customized approach,” Pediatric Blood & Cancer, published online, June 4, 2013. DOI: 10.1002/pbc.24606

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International research team identifies top risk factors for children during influenza pandemic

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Flu / Cold / SARS
Article Date: 15 Aug 2013 - 2:00 PDT Current ratings for:
International research team identifies top risk factors for children during influenza pandemic

An international team of pediatric specialists, representing the world's five major pediatric emergency medicine research networks, has identified several crucial risk factors for alerting clinicians to children most susceptible to life-threatening infections from the H1N1 influenza (flu). It is the first study to detail which clinical factors at hospital arrival in children with influenza-like illness and H1N1 infection are associated with the progressive risk to either severe infection or death.

In a study now on online in the prestigious British Medical Journal, researchers examined pediatric cases from dozens of emergency departments in hospitals around the world during the global influenza pandemic of 2009. The results enabled the team to pinpoint several clinical risk factors for severe infections in youngsters who arrive at a hospital with influenza-like illnesses due to H1N1 infections. The information would be invaluable during a pandemic, when emergency departments and primary-care facilities experience large surges of young patients who arrive with flu-like symptoms.

The study, which assessed each patient's clinical history and physical examination, identified the following predictors of severe H1N1 infection and potentially fatal outcomes in children:

History of chronic lung diseaseHistory of cerebral palsy/developmental delaySigns of chest retractions (difficulty breathing)Signs of dehydrationRequires oxygen to keep blood levels normalHeart rate that exceeds normal range (tachycardia) relative to age

"The basic question clinicians face when they are in the middle of an influenza epidemic like H1N1 is whether their patient is at risk of severe complications," said Stuart Dalziel, lead author of the study and a pediatrician at New Zealand's Starship Children's Hospital and The University of Auckland, and vice-chair of the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) network. "One of the key strengths of this study is that it provides clinicians with meaningful and more precise information that can enable them to identify those children with fever and flu-like symptoms who are at greater risk of severe complications."

The findings stem from 265 pediatric cases culled from 79 emergency departments of hospitals associated with the Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN) in 12 countries.

"Having a more accurate idea of what to look for in pediatric cases, especially during a pandemic, would be especially important to clinicians because it provides crucial guidance for those who would be trying to direct the appropriate levels of treatment for many patients in a short time," said Nathan Kuppermann, professor and chair of emergency medicine at the University of California, Davis, one of the study's senior authors and a principal investigator in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN).

Because of its unparalleled global network of hospitals and patient data, the PERN study also added weight to the efficacy and use of the anti-viral drug oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu) to treat the children with H1N1 influenza virus infections to reduce the severity of infection. Researchers noted there was good evidence of an association between oseltamivir treatment and a reduced frequency of death in children admitted to an intensive care unit for assisted ventilation.

"This study shows the incredible power of PERN, bringing together five pediatric emergency research networks and many emergency departments from around the world, to produce this very significant study which has the power to identify the most at-risk children in a future influenza pandemic," said Terry P. Klassen, the study's senior author, CEO and scientific director at the Manitoba Institute of Child Health in Canada and a site investigator with Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC).

The global research collaborative is comprised of the five major pediatric networks, which are located in Europe and the Middle East (Research in European Paediatric Emergency Medicine, or REPEM), North America (PECARN, PERC and the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Collaborative Research Committee), and in Australia and New Zealand (PREDICT). Together, the five networks have access to data from more than three million pediatric emergency department cases annually from more than 100 hospitals, which are located in four of the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions.

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Visit our pediatrics / children's health section for the latest news on this subject.

Funding: PECARN is supported by HRSA/MCHB/EMSC through the following cooperative agreements: U03MC00001, U03MC00003, U03MC00006, U03MC00007, U03MC00008, U03MC22684, and U03MC22685. Stuart Dalziel is supported by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. John M.D. Thompson received funding from the Logan Campbell Trust, Auckland, New Zealand, to attend an investigator meeting, with time funded by CureKids, New Zealand. Investigators’ time was funded by their host institutions and/or research networks. No funding bodies had any role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Predictors of severe H1N1 infection in children presenting within Pediatric Emergency Research Networks (PERN): retrospective case-control study

BMJ 2013; 347 doi: 10.1136/bmj.f4836

Stuart R Dalziel, John MD Thompson, Charles G Macias, Ricardo M Fernandes, David W Johnson, Yehezkel Waisman, Nicholas Cheng, Jason Acworth, James M Chamberlain, Martin H Osmond, Amy Plint, Paolo Valerio, Karen JL Black, Eleanor Fitzpatrick, Amanda S Newton, Nathan Kuppermann, Terry P Klassen

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Children of obese mothers at greater risk of early heart death as adults

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Article Date: 14 Aug 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Children of obese mothers at greater risk of early heart death as adults

Children of obese and overweight women have a higher risk of early cardiovascular death as adults, finds a study published on bmj.com.

The findings highlight the urgent need for strategies to prevent obesity in women of childbearing age and the need to assess the offspring of obese mothers for their cardiovascular risk, say the authors.

Rates of maternal obesity have risen rapidly in the past two decades. In the United States, about 64% of women of reproductive age are overweight and 35% are obese, with a similar pattern in Europe.

Many studies have shown a link between maternal obesity and disease later in life, but it is still not clear whether maternal obesity is associated with increased death in offspring from cardiovascular causes.

Using birth and death records from 1950 to the present day, a team of researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen in Scotland identified 28,540 women - whose body mass index (BMI) was recorded at their first antenatal visit - and their 37,709 offspring who were aged between 34 and 61 at the time of follow up.

BMI was defined as underweight (BMI 18.5 or less), normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9), overweight (BMI 25-29.9), and obese (BMI 30 or more).

Relevant details about the pregnancy were collated, including the mother's age at delivery, number of previous pregnancies, mother and father's social class and infant sex, birth weight and gestation at delivery.

Among the mothers, 21% were overweight and 4% were obese. Among the 37,709 offspring there were 6551 premature deaths from any cause and, among the deceased, 294 had had obese mothers at birth.

The researchers found that the risk of premature death was 35% higher in the adult offspring of obese mothers compared to those whose mothers had had normal weight. This was after adjusting the results for factors including the mother's age at delivery, number of previous pregnancies, mother and father's social class and infant sex, birth weight and gestation at delivery.

They also found a 42% increased risk (adjusted for the same factors) of a hospital admission for a cardiovascular event in the adult offspring of obese mothers compared with offspring of mothers with normal BMI.

The offspring of overweight mothers also had a higher risk of adverse events later in life.

It is thought that being overweight in pregnancy may cause permanent changes in appetite control and energy metabolism in the offspring, leading to a greater risk of heart problems later in life.

With rising rates of excess weight among pregnant women, the authors say their findings are "a major public health concern" and indicate that the offspring of obese mothers are a high risk group who should be assessed for cardiovascular risk, and actively encouraged to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

"As one in five women in the UK is currently obese at antenatal booking, strategies to optimise weight before pregnancy are urgently required," they conclude.

Dr Sohinee Bhattacharya, of the University of Aberdeen, said: "This study highlights the importance of weight management in mothers and their offspring. We need to find out how to help young women and their children control their weight better so that chronic disease risk is not transmitted from generation to generation."

Jacqui Clinton, Health Campaigns Director at Tommy's, said: "This new study adds to a growing body of evidence that obesity during pregnancy can have a long term impact on children, affecting their adult weight, health and even their life expectancy. If we are to tackle obesity in the UK, we need to start at conception and help mums to limit the impact of their weight on their babies - research shows that eating a healthy diet and taking moderate exercise while pregnant can make a big difference. Looking after a baby's health while in the womb may not only increase the chances of a healthy birth, but of a longer, healthier life."

In an accompanying editorial, Dr Factor-Litvak from the Department of Epidemiology in New York, says that this study leaves open two questions. Firstly, what is the role of the early post natal environment and secondly, what is the role of parental obesity? She asks what the implications of the study are, concluding that along with recommended weight gain for overweight and obese women, "interventions should begin before pregnancy".

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Later-life death risks for children born to obese mothers

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Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Article Date: 14 Aug 2013 - 8:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Later-life death risks for children born to obese mothers

Approaching pregnancy with a healthy body is common sense, but a new study published in the British Medical Journal has quantified the risks of maternal obesity, finding that children born to obese mothers are more likely to die prematurely in their later adult years.

The authors of the BMJ study say that in the US, about 64% of women in the child-bearing age bracket are overweight and 35% are obese, creating "a major public health concern" for high-risk groups of people who should be assessed for their cardiovascular risk.

Researchers in Scotland who led the study used birth and death records beginning in 1950 and continuing to the present day. In total, they analyzed 28,540 women's files, which included a body mass index (BMI) reading from the first antenatal visit. The researchers also studied the resulting 37,709 offspring aged between 34 and 61 at the time of follow-up visits.

The researchers classified the women by four groups:

Underweight - BMI of 18.5 or underNormal weight - BMI between 18.5 and 24.9Overweight - BMI between 25 and 29.9Obese - BMI of 30 or more.

Of the women in the study, 21% were overweight and 4% were obese, which is a decidedly lower rate than today's numbers in the US cited by the researchers, of 65% and 35%, respectively.

Still, the results showed that the risk of premature death for the adult offspring of obese women, compared with offspring of normal weight mothers, was 35% higher.

Children of obese pregnant women had a higher risk of early death as adults

Additionally, there was a 42% higher risk for being admitted to the hospital due to a "cardiovascular event" in the adult offspring of obese mothers.

The findings show that the main cause of death from the entire offspring population was cardiovascular disease (24% of male deaths and 13% of female deaths) and cancer (26% of male deaths and 42% of female deaths).

The results adjusted for factors such as the mother's age at delivery, previous pregnancies, parental social class, as well as the infant's sex, weight and gestation at birth, say the researchers.

In an editorial response to the study, Pam Factor-Litvak from Columbia University notes that maternal obesity has already been associated with risks for the mother, including increased mortality, pre-eclampsia and diabetes.

Additionally, she says that risks for children of obese mothers have likewise been established: increased risk of becoming obese later in life themselves, hypertension, asthma or behavioral problems.

However, she also says this recent study is the first to link maternal obesity and risk of cardiovascular death in mid-life.

She notes that there may be some implications after the findings of the recent study:

"The US Institute of Medicine guidelines, adopted in 2009, recommend weight gains of 15 lbs. to 25 lbs., and 11-20 lbs. for overweight and obese pregnant women, respectively, with no more than 0.6-0.5 lb weight gain per week in the second and third trimesters."

Because these recommendations were made to balance risks involving fetal growth and other complications, Pam Factor-Litvak notes that appropriate diet and exercise should be discussed during pregnancy.

The authors of the study conclude by noting:

"Our findings highlight the urgent need for strategies to prevent obesity in women of childbearing age and the need to assess the offspring of obese mothers for their cardiovascular risk."

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Children can outgrow obesity - boys more than girls

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Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
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Article Date: 31 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Children can outgrow obesity - boys more than girls

Researchers have developed a model revealing how excessive calorie intake can affect the weight of children and adolescents, suggesting that children can grow out of obesity, according to a study published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.

Researchers from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, as well as the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, say the model could lead to the development of new weight-loss programs for obese and overweight children.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), childhood obesity has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Statistics in 2010 showed that more than a third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.

The study authors describe this model as a "mathematical representation" of the energy balance principle, wherein changes in bodyweight are calculated to analyze the relationship between the calories consumed in food and the energy used up by the body in order to carry out physical work.

The model analyzes how children's metabolism, growth and energy expenditure can change as they gain weight.

The researchers say this model is the first to differentiate between the healthy weight gain that is normal in childhood and the excessive weight gain that results in obesity.

They add that it provides an accurate representation of how a child's energy balance can affect their weight gain.

The model was tested against data from previous studies that assessed the effects of a variety of weight loss interventions in overweight and obese treatments. This model was the most accurate tool in predicting the effect of calorie intake on weight loss in children, the researchers say.

Results predicted increases in energy intake between the ages of 5 and 18 of around 1,200 kcal a day in boys and 900 kcal a day in girls.

The model shows how some children could "outgrow" obesity during growth spurts, without changing their bodyweight, the study authors say.

For example, boys who are obese but maintain the same bodyweight during their growth spurts - which are more prominent between the ages of 11 and 16 - are likely to "normalize" their body fat as they grow taller and add lean tissue mass.

The researchers say, however, that this is less likely in girls as they tend to lose less body fat compared with boys, who tend to grow taller.

The study authors say that this model could lead to a greater understanding within clinicians and policy makers of how weight loss treatments, such as exercise programs and calorie-controlled diets, can be used to determine the best and most effective way of addressing childhood obesity.

Dr. Kevin Hall, lead study author, says: "One of the most disconcerting aspects of the global obesity epidemic is the high prevalence of childhood obesity, which carries both health and economic consequences." He adds:

"The model we have developed is a substantial step forward in fighting this rising tide of childhood obesity. It allows us to accurately predict how a child's energy intake affects his or her likelihood of becoming overweight or obese."

However, the researchers say that this model may not be accurate in predicting the risk of obesity in all children.

"Though the model doesn't apply perfectly to all children - for instance, those who start adolescence late, or who undergo particularly rapid weight gain - it provides an accurate representation of the average effect of reducing or increasing calorie intake on the weight of children," says Dr. Kevin Hall, adding:

"Our future research will adapt the model to individual children as well as study the effects of increasing physical activity along with diet changes."

Professor Claudio Maffeis of the department of life and reproduction sciences at the University of Verona, Italy, makes a comment in a follow-up to the study, stressing the "importance" of this research and saying it needs to be backed up by increasing parental knowledge.

He says: "To translate into practice these desired changes in energy balance, it will be necessary to increase families' knowledge and awareness of energy content and composition of children's diets by designing effective and sustainable educational programs about nutrition."

Written by Honor Whiteman

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Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Visit our obesity / weight loss / fitness section for the latest news on this subject. "Dynamics of childhood growth and obesity: development and validation of a quantitative mathematical model," Hall KD, Butte NF, Swinburn BA and Chow CC, The Lancet - Diabetes & Endocrinology, July 30, 2013. Early online publication Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

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Summer holiday time-bomb facing children with asthma

Main Category: Respiratory / Asthma
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 31 Jul 2013 - 2:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Summer holiday time-bomb facing children with asthma

Parents are being warned of an 'asthma attack time-bomb' potentially facing the 1.1 million children with asthma in the UK when they go back to school after the summer holidays.

Leading charity Asthma UK has today released alarming new data showing a dramatic surge in children's hospital admissions that coincides with their return to school.

In England, more children are rushed to hospital with an asthma attack in mid-September than any other week during the year. Over 4.6 times as many children in England were hospitalised because of their asthma in the third week of September 2011, compared with just six weeks previously when hospital admissions were at their lowest.[1]

The September spike in children's asthma hospital admissions occurs year after year in the UK and in many other countries, usually two to three weeks into the autumn term. Children aged six to seven years old are the most seriously affected.[2]

Asthma UK is tackling this worrying trend by launching a campaign targeting parents. The charity believes parents can help prevent back-to-school asthma attacks by making sure children carry on taking their preventer inhalers twice daily during the summer holidays. Studies suggest that children who have been forgetting to take their medicines over the break will be at a higher risk of having a serious asthma attack when they are exposed to common classroom asthma triggers in September, such as colds, flu and stress.[3]

Dr Samantha Walker, Deputy Chief Executive of Asthma UK, explains: "Normal routines can go out of the window during the summer break, which can effectively create a time-bomb for children with asthma. Those who forget to take their preventer inhalers over the summer will be less in control of their symptoms and therefore more vulnerable to asthma attacks come term-time."

On average, two children in every classroom have asthma, making it the most common long-term condition for children in the UK. More than 25,000 children were hospitalised because of their asthma in 2011-12 [4], and eighteen children under 14 died as a result of an asthma attack in 2011.[5] Children who have allergies on top of their asthma are thought to be particularly at risk.

According to Kate Jones, her son Jack's asthma always tends to flare up in the last week of September, and the 15-year-old from the Wirral is usually hospitalised as a result. She says: "Jack's been having attacks in September for as long as I can remember. He often gets them a few weeks after returning to school following the Easter holidays too.

"I can see how parents might become a bit lax with their child's medication over the summer. It's such a busy time, whether you're going on holiday or just trying to arrange for family members to look after them while you're at work. And that's another issue; often your relatives or friends are not as aware of what medication your child should be taking and when."

Asthma UK estimates that three quarters of asthma hospital admissions could be avoided with the right care and management. The charity is urging parents whose children have asthma to order a free 'My Asthma' pack, a child-friendly resource which helps under 12s develop a fun routine to manage their asthma over the summer, and as a result, reduce their risk of an attack in September.

Find out more about the 'Teach Asthma a Lesson Next Term!' campaign. Visit www.asthma.org.uk/backtoschool to order a My Asthma pack for your child.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our respiratory / asthma section for the latest news on this subject.

[1] Data source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre . Data acquired July 2013. In 2011-12, 582 children were hospitalised for their asthma in week 26 (w/c 19th September) compared with 125 children in week 20 (w/c 8th August).

[2] Sears MR, Johnston NW. Understanding the September asthma epidemic. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 10/2007; 120(3): 526-9

[3] Johnston NW, Johnston SL, Duncan JM, Greene JM, Kebadze T, Keith PK, Roy M, Waserman S, Sears MR. The September epidemic of asthma exacerbations in children: a search for etiology. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2005 Jan;115(1):132-8.

[4] Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health; Scottish Morbidity Record, Information Services Division, NHS Scotland; Health Services Wales; Hospital Inpatients System, Department of Health, Social Services & Public Safety Northern Ireland

[5] Office for National Statistics, General Register Office for Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency

Asthma UK

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Children who use gestures tend to perform better on cognitive tasks

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 30 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Children who use gestures tend to perform better on cognitive tasks

In the first study of its kind, SF State researchers have shown that younger children who use gestures outperform their peers in a problem-solving task.

The task itself is relatively simple -- sorting cards printed with colored shapes first by color, and then by shape. But the switch from color to shape can be tricky for children younger than 5, says Professor of Psychology Patricia Miller.

In a new study due to be published in the August, 2013 issue of Developmental Psychology, Miller and SF State graduate student Gina O'Neill found that young children who gesture are more likely to make the mental switch and group the shapes accurately.

In fact, gesturing seemed to trump age when it came to the sorting performance of the children, who ranged from 2 and a half years old to 5 years old. In the color versus shape task, as well as one that asked children to sort pictures based on size and spatial orientation, younger children who gestured often were more accurate in their choices than older children who gestured less. The children's gestures included rotating their hands to show the orientation of a card or using their hands to illustrate the image on the card, for example gesturing the shape of rabbits' ears for a card depicting a rabbit.

"Gina and I were surprised by the strength of the effect. Still, the findings are consistent with a growing body of research showing that mind and body work closely together in early cognitive development," Miller said.

"The findings are a reminder of how strong individual differences are among children of a particular age," she added. "Certain 3-year-olds look like typical 4-year-olds. This likely reflects an interaction of natural talent and particular experiences -- both nature and nurture, as usual."

There is a growing body of research that suggests gesturing may play a significant role in the processes that people use to solve a problem or achieve a goal. These processes include holding information in memory, keeping the brain from choosing a course too quickly and being flexible in adding new or different information to handle a task.

Studies have shown that gesturing can help older children learn new math concepts, for example. "Really, though, there is evidence that gesturing helps with difficult cognitive tasks at any age," Miller said. "Even we adults sometimes gesture when we're trying to organize our tax receipts or our closets. When our minds are overflowing we let our hands take on some of the cognitive load."

O'Neill and Miller observed the children's spontaneous gestures as they performed the tasks, as well as gestures they were encouraged to make to explain their sorting choices. Both kinds of gestures were counted in comparing high and low gesturing children.

Children who did a lot of gesturing did better at the sorting task than those who didn't gesture as much -- even when they did not use gesturing during the task itself, the researchers found. This makes it difficult to determine whether it's the gesturing itself that helps the children perform the task, or whether children who use a lot of gestures are simply at a more advanced cognitive level than their peers. It is a question that Miller hopes to answer in further studies.

Miller said there is "quite a bit of evidence now that gestures can help children think," perhaps by helping the brain keep track of relevant information or by helping the brain reflect on the possibilities contained within a task. "In my opinion, children shouldn't be discouraged from gesturing when they want to gesture during learning," she said. "Adults sometimes -- appropriately -- say to children, 'use your words,' but some children may think this applies to all situations."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our psychology / psychiatry section for the latest news on this subject.

The study, "A Show of Hands: Relations between Young Children's Gesturing and Executive Function," will be published in the August, 2013 issue of the journal Developmental Psychology.

San Francisco State University

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Food to blame for more children choking

Featured Article
Academic Journal
Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet;  Respiratory / Asthma
Article Date: 29 Jul 2013 - 6:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Food to blame for more children choking

The number of food-related injuries in the US caused by children choking on food is on the rise, prompting better guidelines on the prevention of choking, reveals a study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers analyzed data on non-fatal food-related choking among US children aged 14 years or under between 2001 and 2009. The researchers are from the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and worked alongside colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The study used data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance system over the 9-year period, and found that 111,914 children aged 0-14 years visited US hospital emergency departments as a result of non-fatal food choking.

There was an equivalent every year of 12,435 children turning up to ER with non-fatal food chocking, with an average age of 4.5 years.The study showed that children under 1 year of age accounted for 37.8% of the cases.There was an almost equal split between the numbers of boys and girls presenting with choking emergencies.More than 60% of the choking cases occurred in children 4 year of age and under.

The results showed that the majority of children (87.3%) were treated and released from hospital, while 10% were hospitalized. The remaining 2.6% left hospital with medical advice.

The following popular foods accounted for more than half of the choking cases:

Hard candy (15.5%)Other types of candy (12.8%)Meat other than hot dogs (12.2%)Bone (12%)

It was also revealed that other "high-risk foods" such as hot dogs, seeds and nuts were more likely to result in hospitalization.

Has this boy bitten off more than he can chew?

Dr. Gary Smith of the Center of Injury Research and Policy, says, "These foods have high-risk characteristics that make them more likely to block a child's airway or make them more difficult to chew, which can lead to more serious choking events."

Although there are choking prevention guidelines in place when it comes to food, the study authors say there is concern that organizations such as the Consumer Standard Safety Commission (CSSP), who provide strict legislation within non-related food choking, do not adopt the same legislation with food products.

The study authors say that these results show more focus is needed on improved surveillance, food labeling and design, with education strategies to help prevent childhood choking.

Dr. Gary Smith says:

"Although the Consumer Product Safety Commission has well-established surveillance systems in place, as well as legislation and regulations to protect children from nonfood-related choking, no similar monitoring systems, legislation, or regulations currently exist to address food-related choking among children.

Implementing improved monitoring of food-related choking incidents, placing warning labels on foods that pose a high choking risk, changing the design of foods consumed by children to reduce the risk of choking, and developing public awareness campaigns to educate parents about the danger of food-related choking among children could all help reduce the number of choking episodes in the United States."

Written by Honor Whiteman

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Visit our pediatrics / children's health section for the latest news on this subject. "Nonfatal choking on food among children 14 years or younger in the United States, 2001–2009," Pediatrics, July 29, 2013. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2013-0260. Abstract/summary Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

MLA

Whiteman, Honor. "Food to blame for more children choking." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 29 Jul. 2013. Web.
29 Jul. 2013. APA

Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.

posted by Brian H on 29 Jul 2013 at 9:43 am

Shouldn't we be more concerned about what caused the fatal choking incidents?

| post followup | alert a moderator |

posted by Cel on 29 Jul 2013 at 8:33 am

Wow so this is what they meant by candy is bad for you.. Who would have thought

| post followup | alert a moderator |

posted by Seriously? on 29 Jul 2013 at 7:10 am

Or parents should simply teach their kids to chew their food more and be responsible*. But wait, it's not the parents' fault their child behaves improperly....

*Excluding bone, of course

| post followup | alert a moderator |

posted by Kim on 29 Jul 2013 at 7:00 am

Seems more like the parents are in a rush to wean their babies off of pureed food. Already, mothers are weaning their babies off of the breast or bottle too soon, and now they're introducing solids far too early. And unless these babies are getting into something they shouldn't be (candy left out on a table), why are they even being given that sort of thing? No wonder so many kids have cavities and childhood diabetes right off the bat.

| post followup | alert a moderator |

'Food to blame for more children choking'

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View the original article here

Food to blame for more children choking

Featured Article
Academic Journal
Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet;  Respiratory / Asthma
Article Date: 29 Jul 2013 - 6:00 PDT Current ratings for:
Food to blame for more children choking

The number of food-related injuries in the US caused by children choking on food is on the rise, prompting better guidelines on the prevention of choking, reveals a study published in the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers analyzed data on non-fatal food-related choking among US children aged 14 years or under between 2001 and 2009. The researchers are from the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and worked alongside colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The study used data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance system over the 9-year period, and found that 111,914 children aged 0-14 years visited US hospital emergency departments as a result of non-fatal food choking.

There was an equivalent every year of 12,435 children turning up to ER with non-fatal food chocking, with an average age of 4.5 years.The study showed that children under 1 year of age accounted for 37.8% of the cases.There was an almost equal split between the numbers of boys and girls presenting with choking emergencies.More than 60% of the choking cases occurred in children 4 year of age and under.

The results showed that the majority of children (87.3%) were treated and released from hospital, while 10% were hospitalized. The remaining 2.6% left hospital with medical advice.

The following popular foods accounted for more than half of the choking cases:

Hard candy (15.5%)Other types of candy (12.8%)Meat other than hot dogs (12.2%)Bone (12%)

It was also revealed that other "high-risk foods" such as hot dogs, seeds and nuts were more likely to result in hospitalization.

Has this boy bitten off more than he can chew?

Dr. Gary Smith of the Center of Injury Research and Policy, says, "These foods have high-risk characteristics that make them more likely to block a child's airway or make them more difficult to chew, which can lead to more serious choking events."

Although there are choking prevention guidelines in place when it comes to food, the study authors say there is concern that organizations such as the Consumer Standard Safety Commission (CSSP), who provide strict legislation within non-related food choking, do not adopt the same legislation with food products.

The study authors say that these results show more focus is needed on improved surveillance, food labeling and design, with education strategies to help prevent childhood choking.

Dr. Gary Smith says:

"Although the Consumer Product Safety Commission has well-established surveillance systems in place, as well as legislation and regulations to protect children from nonfood-related choking, no similar monitoring systems, legislation, or regulations currently exist to address food-related choking among children.

Implementing improved monitoring of food-related choking incidents, placing warning labels on foods that pose a high choking risk, changing the design of foods consumed by children to reduce the risk of choking, and developing public awareness campaigns to educate parents about the danger of food-related choking among children could all help reduce the number of choking episodes in the United States."

Written by Honor Whiteman

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Visit our pediatrics / children's health section for the latest news on this subject. "Nonfatal choking on food among children 14 years or younger in the United States, 2001–2009," Pediatrics, July 29, 2013. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2013-0260. Abstract/summary Please use one of the following formats to cite this article in your essay, paper or report:

MLA

Whiteman, Honor. "Food to blame for more children choking." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 29 Jul. 2013. Web.
29 Jul. 2013. APA

Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.

posted by Brian H on 29 Jul 2013 at 9:43 am

Shouldn't we be more concerned about what caused the fatal choking incidents?

| post followup | alert a moderator |

posted by Cel on 29 Jul 2013 at 8:33 am

Wow so this is what they meant by candy is bad for you.. Who would have thought

| post followup | alert a moderator |

posted by Seriously? on 29 Jul 2013 at 7:10 am

Or parents should simply teach their kids to chew their food more and be responsible*. But wait, it's not the parents' fault their child behaves improperly....

*Excluding bone, of course

| post followup | alert a moderator |

posted by Kim on 29 Jul 2013 at 7:00 am

Seems more like the parents are in a rush to wean their babies off of pureed food. Already, mothers are weaning their babies off of the breast or bottle too soon, and now they're introducing solids far too early. And unless these babies are getting into something they shouldn't be (candy left out on a table), why are they even being given that sort of thing? No wonder so many kids have cavities and childhood diabetes right off the bat.

| post followup | alert a moderator |

'Food to blame for more children choking'

Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.

All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam). We reserve the right to amend opinions where we deem necessary.

Contact Our News Editors

For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.

Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

View the original article here