pediatrics

She sits before me in tears, a positive pregnancy test on the counter in front of us. It’s not that my patient doesn’t want a fourth child. But she is haunted by memories of her third cesarean section (C-section). Hours after her baby was delivered, she hemorrhaged and fell unconscious. Waking in the ICU, she learned she had been transfused several units of blood. Severe anemia and debilitating postoperative pain complicated her postpartum recovery. Now, she is terrified of another C-section—the delivery of a child…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reducing funding to states for child vaccination programs, according to an agency email obtained by KFF Health News. The funding cut “is a significant change to your budget,” said the email to immunization managers, dated June 27 and signed by two CDC officials. The immunization managers who received the message are public health officials who direct state, territorial, and local programs to promote vaccinations against a variety of infectious diseases, such as measles…

Earlier this year in Indiana, day care director Tonya Rachelle Voris was fired and arrested for feeding melatonin supplements to young children in the New Life Church’s childcare program without parental consent. Voris now faces 11 counts of neglect of dependents and six counts of reckless supervision by a child care provider. The use of melatonin, a common sleep aid, has increased significantly in the last two decades. More than five times as many adults in the U.S. took melatonin in 2018 than in 2000. Kids are also…

In the U.S., almost 20 percent of children have developmental delays, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), ADHD, learning disabilities or speech and language disorders. These disorders are usually diagnosed in childhood and have specific and time-intensive treatments based on severity. The prevalence of some of these disorders is rising, including autism. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that an all-time high of one in 36 children have this condition. General pediatricians play a…

Science has long presumed that children living in cities grow faster and healthier than rural kids—but that trend has flipped over the past two decades, a new study suggests. A global study published Wednesday in Nature found that the average height of urban children and adolescents ages 5 to 19 is now slightly shorter than that of their peers in rural areas in most countries—notably in wealthy countries such as the U.S., the U.K. and France. “Where we've historically seen a quite clear benefit for living in cities, that…

Have you ever wondered if the data recorded by a wearable gives you insight into how your body is really performing? Research from Oura, created by data taken from the Oura Ring smart ring, shows wearables really can better inform you of your health, and even warn of oncoming infections. For its research, the team concentrated on its wearers who had a confirmed COVID-19 infection, and also tracked the body’s response to the COVID-19 vaccine. The results are interesting, as they show that — despite not being medical…

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. As people in the U.S. prepare to set their clocks ahead one hour on Sunday, March 12, 2023, I find myself bracing for the annual ritual of media stories about the disruptions to daily routines caused by switching from standard time  to daylight saving time. About one-third of Americans say they don’t look forward to these twice-yearly time changes. And nearly two-thirds would like to eliminate them…

A child with a measles rash.Photo: Shutterstock (Shutterstock)A measles outbreak in Columbus, Ohio has sickened over 80 children and hospitalized dozens. The majority of these cases have involved unvaccinated children who were nonetheless eligible for vaccination. It is not yet clear how long the outbreak will continue, with the most recent case having been detected just last week.Columbus Public Health officials first reported the outbreak in early November, though the first known cases are now believed to have begun in…

Every autumn, doctors’ offices, hospitals and clinics fill with babies and toddlers struggling to breathe. Families are frightened and bewildered as young children cough, wheeze and become increasingly congested, dehydrated and short of breath. Those of us who care for children know this means the annual epidemic caused by respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, has started. The recent RSV surge, has overwhelmed emergency departments, pediatric inpatient wards and intensive care units worldwide. Doctors and nurses are…

Though highly contagious and dangerous to young children, measles is nearly 100% preventable with two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)An outbreak of measles in Ohio has spread through at least 7 daycares and a school in the area. Officials are now investigating 18 suspected cases of the fast-spreading but vaccine-preventable viral illness, all among unvaccinated children. Several of the children have been hospitalized.Columbus Public Health (CPH) and Franklin…