by Judy Palfrey on January 26, 2010
Children’s Judith Palfrey, MD, FAAP, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics writes about the most urgent children’s health stories that were neglected by the media last year:
This past year, the newspapers and blogs were full of stories about H1N1, obesity, autism and health care reform. These are all important and newsworthy topics, but there are other stories that are perhaps less flashy, but nonetheless have worth on their own merit.
As far as I am concerned, one of the biggest of these is the story of our adolescents and young adults with chronic conditions and disabilities. Quietly and without fanfare, as a result of the great innovations of medicine and surgery, the numbers of adolescents and young adults with significant health problems has been rising in the United States. [click to continue…]
by Children's Hospital Boston staff on November 7, 2009
Other stories we’ve been reading:
The Swiss drug maker, Novartis, says it will meet the United State’s H1N1 vaccine order on time and new research shows that people on cholesterol-lowering drugs are twice as likely to survive seasonal flu hospitalizations. The World Health Organization announced, again, that the H1N1 vaccine is safe and that one dose is enough for everyone except children under the age of 10, who need two doses. NPR’s Morning Edition interviewed Children’s experts about what parents should do when they think their child has the flu.
Does your toddler have enough educational toys? This writer argues you should hand her an iphone. We know that you’re proud of your kid, but could all of that bragging end up hurting them? Down syndrome births are way down in the United States. ABC news explores why.
by Children's Hospital Boston staff on September 30, 2009
by Brian Skotko, MD, MPP
Every mother and father who has a child with Down syndrome remembers vividly when they first learned of the diagnosis. One mother once wrote me that she was shopping in her favorite grocery story, selecting a can of garbanzo beans, when her cell phone went off. It was her obstetrician, calling to inform her that the “test” came back “positive” for Down syndrome. She froze, she wrote. After all of those years shopping in the same store, she could not find the door. Another mother, then a third-grade teacher, recounted how the PA speaker announced while she was teaching that an “important phone call” was awaiting her in the administrative offices. She told her class to read their books, while she walked to the principal’s office. It was the obstetrician’s assistant. “We wanted to tell you right away: it’s Down syndrome,” the mother recalled. She was unable to return to her class. [click to continue…]
by Erin Graham on September 14, 2009
Brian Skotko, MD, MPP
By Brian Skotko, MD, MPP
I was recently asked by the editor of the medical journal, Archives of Disease in Childhood, to size up the impact of prenatal testing for Down syndrome. After reviewing research from around the globe, I learned that the number of babies born with Down syndrome has been steadily decreasing. In the United States, alone, there would have been a 34% increase in the number of babies born with Down syndrome between 1989 and 2005, in the absence of prenatal testing. Instead, there were 15% fewer babies born, representing a 49% decrease between expected and observed rates. [click to continue…]
