Table of contents
December 2021 - Volume 106 - 12
Atoms
- Highlights from this issue (19 November, 2021)
Editorial
- Clinical ethics: medical tourism in children (22 September, 2021)
Viewpoint
- Tackling poverty, treating obesity: a ‘whole system’ approach (21 December, 2020)
- Should children be vaccinated against COVID-19 now? (5 January, 2021)
Reviews
- Recommendations by the European Network of Paediatric Research at the European Medicines Agency (Enpr-EMA) Working Group on preparedness of clinical trials about paediatric medicines process (15 April, 2021)
Clinical trials in children require careful preparation, or they risk avoidable delays. This report provides a structured approach to clinical trial preparation for paediatric populations, and includes practical suggestions to improve the process based on learning from industry, regulators, sites, and patient advocates.
- Ethical issues in treatment of babies born at 22 weeks of gestation (14 April, 2021)
Ethical examination of current guidance and practice with respect to resuscitating 22 weekers.
Clinical law for clinical practice
- Conjoined twins: Surgically and legally exceptional (14 April, 2021)
Global child health
- Oxygen saturation reference ranges and factors affecting SpO2 among children living at altitude(24 May, 2021)
This study of children living at 2600m in Papua New Guinea identified risks for lower saturations within the overall population. Saturations were lower in certain groups within the well population of infants and children, pointing to vulnerabilities not previously recognized.
- Epidemiology, clinical features and outcomes of incident tuberculosis in children in Canada in 2013–2016: results of a national surveillance study (20 August, 2021)
Information gleaned from a national surveillance network in Canada which identified 200 cases of childhood tuberculosis over three years finds that indigenous children are disproportionately infected.
Paediatric emergency medicine
- Ultrasound for the diagnosis of malrotation and volvulus in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis (20 April, 2021)
This systematic review and meta-analysis of the role of ultrasound in the diagnosis of intestinal malrotation and volvulus found moderate quality evidence for ultrasound as the first-line diagnostic test for this emergency condition in children.
- Blood enterovirus polymerase chain reaction testing in young febrile infants (27 April, 2021)
Using an observational design, the authors explored the utility of PCR diagnosis of enterovirus in the assessment of risk for invasive bacterial infection (IBI) in febrile infants. They found that Blood ev-PCR identifies a subset of <90 day old infants very unlikely to have IBI.
- Decision-making for children requiring interhospital transport: assessment of a novel triage tool (30 April, 2021)
Deciding on interhospital transport of unwell and potentially critically ill children is not necessarily straightforward. The authors describe a new tool to help decision making and communication in this process.
Original research
- Improved renal allograft survival for pre-emptive paediatric renal transplant recipients in the UK (20 May, 2021)
The debate about the benefit of pre-emptive kidney transplantation in paediatric patients gets support by recent data from the UK Transplant Registry. Five years graft survival rate was significantly better in pre-emptive transplantation, and dialysis's time negatively impacted.
- Experiences of adolescents living with Silver-Russell syndrome
(19 March, 2021)
In depth qualitative interviews with young people growing up with Silver- Russell syndrome identified multiple psychosocial challenges. Currently young people are discharged and not monitored into adulthood. This may need to change
- Intrathecal baclofen pumps in the management of hypertonia in childhood: a UK and Ireland wide survey (14 April, 2021)
All twelve centres in Great Britain and Ireland that provide intrathecal baclofen therapy report results over a 5 month period. There is considerable variation in referral criteria and the way it is used. There is a need for greater standardisation of ITB therapy to ensure equality of provision.
- Listeria infection in young infants: results from a national surveillance study in the UK and Ireland (13 May, 2021)
Who needs empirical treatment for Listeria infection? This national surveillance study found that invasive listeriosis in young infants in the UK and Ireland is rare and presented only in the neonatal period. Use of amoxicillin as part of empiric treatment for sepsis and meningitis in infants over 1 month of age may be unnecessary.
COVID-19
- Sharing a household with children and risk of COVID-19: a study of over 300 000 adults living in healthcare worker households in Scotland (18 March, 2021)
Many parents know that having young children in the house means they get frequent respiratory viral infections. Is this the same for COVID, which is less frequent and less severe in children? This cohort study finds that having young children in the house reduces the risk of COVID.
- Post-COVID-19 paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome: association of ethnicity, key worker and socioeconomic status with risk and severity (16 March, 2021)
In a cohort of children from South East England, there was some evidence for potentially higher risk & severity in groups with higher deprivation and in ethnic minoritys. The finding warrant further investigation.
Short report
- Delivering tertiary tuberculosis care virtually (22 June, 2021)
A weekly virtual clinic with MDT discussion between between district paediatricians and a tertiary TB team showed that:45% children received care closer to home. Median time from presentation to treatment reduced by 28%. 21% more children diagnosed before developing symptoms.
Voices
- Diagnosis and management of neonatal hip dysplasia: a brief history (17 February, 2021)
Archimedes
- Towards evidence-based medicine for paediatricians (19 November, 2021)
PostScript
Miscellanea
- Archivist: Hypnosis and functional neurological disorder (19 November, 2021)
- Archivist: Pro-social hormones for autism? (19 November, 2021)
- Lucina: Highlights from the literature (19 November, 2021)
Electronic pages
- Letter: RSV bronchiolitis season 2021 has arrived, so be prepared! (19 August, 2021)