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A study presented at this year’s ASA Annual Meeting offers evidence that a liberal drinking and eating policy for children after surgery improves recovery and does not increase the incidence of one of the most universally dreaded surgical side effects of anesthesia: postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV).

Previous studies have demonstrated increased incidence of PONV when oral intake was mandated after surgery. But Christian C. Apfel, M.D., and his group from the University of California-San Francisco found a different pattern.

“We all know from our clinical experience that vomiting can be triggered by oral intake,” said Dr. Apfel. “And studies that mandated keeping oral intake for discharge have shown an increase of PONV in the postanesthesia care unit. Thus we expected that delaying oral intake might merely delay the time until PONV was triggered, but not the overall incidence. Interestingly, it didn’t increase the incidence at all at any time. This is a new finding that has not been studied before.”

With childhood obesity expanding to epidemic proportions in the United States, educators, researchers and health practitioners are actively seeking to identify effective means of addressing this public-health crisis.

Among the solutions proposed by teachers, researchers and others who met during a roundtable discussion of the issues at a major international conference at the University of Illinois, is the integration of physical activity programming throughout the curriculum in the nation’s schools. In other words, the group recommended that physical activity no longer be confined to the domain of the physical education classes.

“There are a number of steps that can be taken to accomplish this,” said U. of I. kinesiology and community health professor Weimo (pronounced WE-moh) Zhu, the lead organizer of the “Walking for Health” conference. For example, “science teachers can teach the science behind physical activity – theories about energy transfer. Or teachers can combine graphics and arts, going on a walk to look at different parts of the city.”

Contrary to public perceptions, foreign-born children are increasingly uninsured, rather than publicly insured, in the wake of immigration policy changes, according to a study by public health researchers at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Despite a 1999 federal ruling that relieved immigrant families of a requirement to repay the U.S. government for Medicaid benefits, immigrant children did not increase their usage of publicly funded health insurance programs. The study authors said that these inequities in access to health care may hinder the ability of immigrant children to become productive future members of the American labor force.

Even after taking into account significant socioeconomic differences between U.S.-born and foreign-born children, the vast majority of immigrant children are much more likely to be uninsured, living in poverty, and have parents with less than a high school education, according to the study. The results, based on the analysis of data collected from 33,317 children for the 1997 to 2004 National Health Interview Survey, appear in the November 2008 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Children who are bilingual before the age of 5 are significantly more likely to stutter and to find it harder to lose their impediment, than children who speak only one language before this age, suggests research published ahead of print in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

The researchers base their findings on 317 children, who were referred for stutter when aged between 8 and 10.

All the children lived in Greater London, and all had started school in the UK at the age of 4 or 5.

As if things weren’t tough enough for premature babies who have tubes down their throats and noses to survive, once the tubes are removed, they are often unable to take nourishment orally — that is, suck.

But 20 tube-fed preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome treated with the NTrainer, a therapeutic device patented by the University of Kansas, rapidly learned to suck far better and transitioned to oral feeding faster than a control group of babies with the syndrome.

Respiratory distress syndrome, also known as hyaline membrane disease, is a common condition of prematurity, particularly in the youngest infants, because babies’ lungs are too immature to survive outside the womb without the help of a ventilator and/or oxygen. Overall, it is the seventh leading cause of death among infants younger than one year, fifth for African-American and third for Hispanic infants.

With summer ending and school underway, parents are transitioning from hearing their children moan about not being able to swim everyday, to their child complaining about homework, their new teachers or being in a different class than their friends. Many parents also begin to hear more complaints of tummy aches and headaches as a result of returning back to school.

The psychological term for school-induced illnesses a child may develop when he or she is trying to dodge school is School Avoidance, or School Refusal. Symptoms include nausea, fatigue, headaches and abdominal pain. According to Lori Crosby, Psy.D., Associate Professor, Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, even if children start to complain about stomach aches and other ailments, parents should still send their child to school unless they have symptoms of fever or a contagious illness. “It would probably be helpful to schedule a visit with the child’s pediatrician to rule out a ‘true’ medical problem, which may give the parent the confidence to send their child when in doubt,” said Dr. Crosby.

Approximately 1-5 percent of children in the United States suffer from School Avoidance. An article in the American Family Physician states that School Avoidance/Refusal should be considered when a student will not go to school and experiences emotional distress of physical symptoms. 

Children who regularly exercise and limit their time in front of the TV and computer are much less likely to be overweight than their peers, a new study suggests.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children devote no more than two hours per day to watching TV and playing video games.

Experts also encourage children to exercise regularly; some groups, including the AAP, recommend that boys move enough to take 13,000 steps each day, while girls should strive for 11,000. Another common recommendation is for children and teenagers to get at least one hour of moderate exercise on most, if not all, days of the week. 

At least 10 infant deaths in Arizona in 2006 were linked to over-the-counter cough and cold remedies—underscoring the danger of giving the medications to children younger than 2, researchers report.

The investigators found that of 21 infants who died unexpectedly and had autopsy data available, 10 had evidence that they been given cough or cold medication shortly before they died.

The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics, do not prove that the medications caused or contributed to the infants’ deaths, but they add weight to a recent warning from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that parents not give cough and cold remedies to children younger than 2.

Kids are still off from school and keeping them entertained is getting tougher by the day. But, can children have fun this summer while staying safe and healthy? Several experts from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are attempting to take out some of the guesswork, and are available to comment on the various aspects of youth health.

Experts:

“Just five more minutes, Mom!”- Examining the impact of screen time, physical activity and health in school-aged youth.

Dr. Ian Michael Janssen, CIHR-funded researcher at Queen’s University (Kingston)

How far does the apple fall from the tree? Determining how positive and negative parenting practices influence a child’s mental health.

Dr. Paul David Hastings, CIHR-funded researcher at Concordia University (Montreal)