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Amit P. Shah
E-mail: [email protected]
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Parents and infants communicate less
when the TV is on (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2009; 163:
554-558) |
The more time infants and toddlers spend in front of the TV, the less
exposure they have to adult voices and the less likely they are to speak
themselves, researchers in USA found. The findings strengthen a suspected
link between infant TV exposure and delayed language development. Each
hour spent with a switched on TV was associated with significant
reductions in the child’s vocalization. Each additional hour of TV viewing
was linked with 770 fewer words that a child heard from an adult during
the recording session– a 7% decrease compared to the average number of
words heard by kids in house holds where a TV is not on. Since 1999, the
American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that pediatricians
discourage the watching of TV or other screen media by children younger
than two.
Comments More TV time equals less human
interaction. This is contrary to the claims by companies that make
educational DVDs for infants and market them as tools to promote
interaction between child and parent.
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Simple way to identify high BP in kids
(Pediatrics 2009;123: e972-e974) |
It is a well known fact that almost 75 percent of cases of hypertension
and 90 percent of cases of pre-hypertension in children and adolescents go
undiagnosed. One of the main reasons for the under-diagnosis is the
complex chart currently used to identify high blood pressure in children.
To differentiate between normal and abnormal readings, one has to, not
only remember the variety of blood pressure ranges, but also know the
child’s height percentile – which can be difficult to verify, especially
in non-primary care settings. The researcher of this study have now
simplified the chart - focusing solely on a child’s age and gender -
eliminating the need for a height percentile and reducing the number of
values in the blood pressure table from 476 to just 64. Researchers
reduced the systolic and diastolic blood pressure cut-off values to one
value for girls and one value for boys for each year of life from ages 3
to 18 plus for re-designing the chart. They used the lower limit of height
(5th percentile) in the abnormal blood pressure range for a given gender
and age. Any reading at or above the listed numbers in the chart will
indicate a child who needs further evaluation by a physician.
Comments Children with high blood pressure often
become adults with heart disease and other serious medical conditions.
This new screening tool can quickly and easily identify children and
adolescents whose blood pressure readings merit further evaluation by a
pediatrician.
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Association between asthma symptoms and obesity in
preschool (4-5 year old) children (J Asthma 2009;46: 362-365) |
Researchers in Australia studied the association between asthma and
obesity in preschool children. The prevalence of wheeze in the previous 12
months in the preschool population was 23.7%. In the cohort, 13.7%
children were classified as overweight and 5.7% as obese. A significant
relationship was identified between "wheeze in the last 12 months" (P
<0.01), "wheeze ever" (P <0.001) and "asthma ever" (P
<0.001) with the trend towards obesity. The relationship was significant
for both male and female sex with the exception of "wheeze in the last 12
months" in obese females. (P = 0.09).
Comments There is an association between asthma
symptoms and obesity in preschool children also and not only in school
going children and adolescents. This is one more reason to prevent obesity
in children as a whole.
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