Table of contents
October 2022 - Volume 107 - 10
Highlights from this issue
- Atoms (20 September, 2022)
Editorial
- Parental discretion (25 April, 2022)
Viewpoint
- Three generations of paediatric training (20 May, 2021)
Reviews
- Clinical management of complex motor stereotypies (1 November, 2021)
Children with repetitive abnormal movements are often referred to paediatric clinics and this paper is a helpful account of how to identify those that need further care with guidelines on assessment and management.
Global child health
- Higher childhood pneumonia admission threshold remains in Lao PDR: an observational study (18 May, 2022)
This study from Lao assesses adherence to the simplified, less parenteral antibiotic focused WHO 2014 pneumonia guidance compared with earlier recommendations.
Advocacy
- Meta-analysis of donor–recipient gender profile in paediatric living donor liver transplantation
(8 June, 2022)
Scarcity of organs for transplantation makes living related donor transplantation lifesaving, but it may not be equitably distributed. In pediatric transplants, female adult living donors are more common, while male recipients are more common in low- and middle-income settings.
Paediatric emergency medicine
- Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy: how young is too young? (10 May, 2022)
A prospective 8-year observational study from September 2012 to September 2020 including 76 episodes for which neonates were admitted to the Hospital-in-the-Home (HITH) for outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT), and 405 episodes for older infants evaluated the use, the efficacy and the outcomes of OPAT in neonates (≤28 days of age), compared with older infants (1-12 months of age). This study demonstrates that OPAT is a safe and effective way of providing antibiotics to selected clinically stable neonatal patients. Whilst appropriate antibiotic use was common, improvements can still be made.
- Local nitroglycerin to facilitate peripheral arterial cannulation in children: systematic review and meta-analysis (20 May, 2022)
Topical nitroglycerin may hep arterial cannulation.
Original research
- Trends in weight loss attempts among children in England (18 July, 2022)
Paper describe trends in reported weight loss attempts among school-aged children. 34,235 children were analysed. Weight loss attempts among children is increasing at a faster rate than the rise in excess weight and includes an increasing proportion of children with a ‘healthy’ weight.
- Do you know when the inhaler is empty? (12 May, 2022)
Patients cannot reliably identify when their child’s inhaler is empty. There is an urgent need for improving inhaler technology and providing appropriate guidance on how to identify when an MDI inhaler is empty.
- Feasibility of single question mental health surveillance in chronic disease (9 June, 2022)
The introduction of a single mental health screening question to a paediatric chronic illness clinic was feasible and acceptable to staff and families. It was a useful tool to identify those requiring more in depth assessment.
- Oral and Swallowing Abilities Tool (OrSAT) in nusinersen treated patients (16 May, 2022)
New interventions have radically altered the natural history of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. In this report, oral and swallowing outcomes are report following interventions, widening our understanding of the potential benefits of early treatment.
- Maternal mental health and substance use disorders in sudden unexpected death in infancy using routinely collected health data in New Zealand, 2000–2016 (8 June, 2022)
This population-based cohort study of live births in New Zealand using health administrative data showed maternal substance use disorders but not maternal mental health problems in the year prior to an infants birth was associate with a moderately increased risk of sudden unexplained death of infancy.
- Postoperative morbidities with infant cardiac surgery and toddlers’ neurodevelopment (6 July, 2022)
A multi-centre followup study evaluating neurodevelopmental outcomes of children aged 2-3 years who underwent infant cardiac surgery and experienced post-operative morbidities compared to matched controls who did not have complications.
- Adherence to the 2015 and 2020 British Society of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes guidelines and outcomes in critically ill children with diabetic ketoacidosis: a retrospective cohort study (16 June, 2022)
UK retrospective cohorts fails to show differences in outcomes with 2015- vs 2020-BSPED fluid protocols for DKA management.
- Short-course intravenous antibiotics for young infants with urinary tract infection (25 April, 2022)
This study aimed to determine the safety of early IV-to-oral antibiotic switch, and identify risk factors for bacteraemia with UTIs. Short course IV antibiotics for <48 hours for young infants with non-bacteraemic UTI should be considered, provided meningitis has been excluded. Treatment failure and serious complications were rare in young infants with UTI.
- Factors that may improve paediatric workplace-based assessments: an exploratory study (29 June, 2022)
By using semi-structured interviews, this study looks at trainees’ and assessors’ views of workplace-based assessments, identifying time, training and limitations of technology as barriers to completion.
Drug therapy
- Vancomycin-associated acute kidney injury epidemiology in children: a systematic review (24 February, 2022)
This systematic review concludes that the incidence of vancomycin-induced nephrotoxicity in children is relevant (11.8 %), so that caution during its use is warranted.
PostScript
Miscellanea
- Archivist: Rotavirus vaccination in low to middle income countries (20 September, 2022)
- Lucina: Highlights of the literature (20 September, 2022)
Electronic pages
- Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on emergency department attendances for young people (12 May, 2022)
Authors assessed the impact of the pandemic on Emergency admissions. Authors found a substantial reduction in both ED presentations and admissions. The differential impact on specific presentations suggests this was due to the impact of social distancing and reduced social mixing
- Changes in adolescents’ planned hospital care during the COVID-19 pandemic: analysis of linked administrative data (16 May, 2022)
This paper describes changes in planned hospital care for adolescents during the pandemic, highlighting the disproportionate impact on those receiving children’s social care services or special educational needs support.
- Reductions in hospital care among clinically vulnerable children aged 0–4 years during the COVID-19 pandemic (21 June, 2022)
While children with chronic conditions, prematurity or were born with low birthweight make up a sixth of children aged 0-4 years in England, they account of up to half of COVID-21 pandemic-related reductions in hospital contact (from Jan 2020 to March 2021).