The Pediatric Academic Societies’ Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies was held from April 25 to 28 in San Diego and attracted more than 7,500 participants from around the world, including pediatricians and other allied health professionals. The conference highlighted recent advances in pediatric health care, with scientific papers presented on a variety of topics, including bullying, firearms, infant nutrition, and other pediatric topics.
In one study, Michael Goodstein, M.D., of WellSpan York Hospital and the Pennsylvania State University, and colleagues evaluated photos of infants for consistency with American Academy of Pediatrics safe sleep guidelines. The investigators searched for images in magazines targeting women of childbearing age and parents with young children, and Internet stock photo websites. This study was a follow-up to previous research efforts to see if there has been any improvement in the images over time and to look at the stock photos that are often the source for these images in magazines and advertisements.
“One of the key findings is that there has been no improvement in the magazine images regarding infant sleep safety,” Goodstein said. “There are fewer overall images, probably related to a decrease in the number of magazines meeting the study criteria. But we saw identical numbers to the original study: One-third of the sleeping infants were not on their backs and the vast majority of babies were not sleeping in a crib.”
The investigators evaluated 1,216 images from four stock photo companies and found that 46 percent of the infants in the images were not asleep on their backs.
“Although the majority of the babies were sleeping alone, 62 percent of the images portrayed an unsafe sleep environment. Our preliminary analysis of 612 images showed that only 15.7 percent of images had an infant sleep environment consistent with the AAP recommendations,” Goodstein said. “Media outlets continue to frequently use images inconsistent with AAP safe sleep recommendations. Inconsistent media messages about infant sleep safety can create confusion regarding best practices and potentially result in inadvertent use of unsafe sleep practices in the home.”
In another study, Alison Culyba, M.D., M.P.H., of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted interviews with 283 adolescent males regarding family relationships and violence exposure. The participants were 10 to 24 years old and living in urban neighborhoods in Philadelphia.
“We found that supportive family connections were common among males in low-resource urban neighborhoods, with 68 percent of participants identifying at least one supportive adult family member,” Culyba said. “Youth also reported high levels of violence exposure, with a third reporting violence involvement, a third reporting witnessing violence, and one-sixth reporting both. Those youth who identified supportive relationships with parents and other adult family members were significantly less likely to report both violence involvement and witnessing violence.”
Compared to youth who did not identify any supportive adult family members, the investigators found that those who identified at least one supportive adult family member had decreased odds of violence involvement and of witnessing violence (odds ratios, 0.38 and 0.49, respectively).
“This study clearly demonstrates that supportive adult relationships are protective against being involved in violence and witnessing violence among youth living in urban environments. This is great news because although there are many things on a societal level that need to be addressed to affect youth violence, every family and community should understand that they have a direct impact on protecting youth,” Culyba said. “As care providers, we can help foster opportunities to support and strengthen family connection in order to protect youth.”
Andrew Adesman, M.D., of Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York in New Hyde Park, and colleagues found that state laws banning texting while driving have decreased the number of teens using their phones to text while driving.
Specifically, from 2011 to 2013, the investigators found that there was a significant reduction in texting while driving in states with a newly implemented ban, as well as among states with a long established ban. However, there was a greater reduction in texting while driving rates in states with a newly implemented ban.
“Although our prior report — based on a cross-sectional analysis of the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System data — suggested that bans do not significantly reduce texting while driving rates, our new longitudinal analysis comparing the 2011 and 2013 data suggests that legislative mandates may indeed reduce texting while driving,” Adesman said. “However, it is quite possible that public education campaigns and other sociocultural factors may also be significantly reducing texting while driving rates.”
Despite these efforts, according to Adesman, almost one-third of high school students who drive still text while driving.
“Greater efforts and novel strategies need to be employed to further reduce the risks associated with distracted driving,” Adesman added.
PAS: State Bans Lead to Fewer Teens Texting While Driving
MONDAY, April 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — State laws have helped reduce texting and driving by American teens, but many still engage in this unsafe behavior, according to a study scheduled for presentation Saturday at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, held from April 25 to 28 in San Diego.
PAS: Rate of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Increasing
TUESDAY, April 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The rate of neonatal abstinence syndrome increased from 2004 to 2013, according to research published online April 26 in the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, held from April 25 to 28 in San Diego.
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PAS: Hypothermia Offers No Benefit in Comatose Children
TUESDAY, April 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — For comatose children who survive out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, therapeutic hypothermia does not confer survival benefit compared with normothermia, according to a study published online April 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The research was published to coincide with the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, held from April 25 to 28 in San Diego.
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PAS: Smartphone Blocker App Could Aid Teen Driving Safety
TUESDAY, April 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A smartphone app that cuts off teenagers’ cell service when they turn on the car ignition may help reduce their accident risk, according to a preliminary new study scheduled for presentation at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, held from April 25 to 28 in San Diego.
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PAS: Even One Hour of TV a Day Ups Childhood Obesity Risk
MONDAY, April 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Watching television, even for just an hour a day, may boost the risk that young children will be overweight or obese, according to new research. The findings were scheduled to be presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, held from April 25 to 28 in San Diego.
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PAS: Mobile Media Use Prevalent in Very Young Children
MONDAY, April 27, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Up to half of very young children use smartphones and tablets in some way before their first birthday, according to a new study. But parents still worry about their children’s use of mobile media, according to a separate study. Both studies were scheduled for presentation this weekend at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, held from April 25 to 28 in San Diego.
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