Youth Have Most Sports Concussions
More than 90% of emergency visits for sports-related concussions occur among children and young adults to age 23, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. High-school-aged children, 14–18 years old, made up 58% of all such hospital emergency department visits in 2008, and middle-school-aged children, 11–13 years, made up another 17%. More than three-quarters of the patients treated for the condition were male. Only about 4% of the emergency cases led to hospital admissions.
AAD Affirms Sunscreen Message
Sunscreens are a safe and effective way to protect against the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation, the American Academy of Dermatology reiterated in a public statement. “Scientific evidence supports the benefits of sunscreen usage to minimize short- and long-term damage to the skin from UV radiation and outweighs any unproven claims of toxicity or human health hazard,” said academy President Ronald Moy. That places the AAD at odds with the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization that said in its annual report on sunscreens that consumers can trust only 20% of the 1,700 products it surveyed for the 2011 summer season. Most sunscreens on the market currently offer inadequate protection against UV-A type radiation, the group said, and many contain chemicals that can disrupt children's and teens' endocrine systems.
Antibiotics Prescribed for Asthma
Potentially unnecessary antibiotics are prescribed during nearly one out of six pediatric ambulatory care visits for asthma, a study of nationwide survey data shows. Prescriptions in asthma cases without a documented coexisting bacterial infection account for about 1 million extra prescriptions per year, the researchers asserted in Pediatrics. Physicians may be prescribing these extra antibiotics because of diagnostic uncertainty, undocumented comorbid conditions, or prophylaxis of secondary infections. Doctors also may be attempting to capitalize on the anti-inflammatory properties of macrolide antibiotics, which included about half of those prescribed without indications.
Teen Drinking, Surfing Linked
Teens who drink alcohol spend more recreational time on their computers than other teens, according to a survey of 264 children aged 13–17 years. Drinking correlated with more frequent social networking and listening to and downloading music, according to the report in the journal Addictive Behaviors. The researchers found no link between teen drinking and computer use for schoolwork. Author Dr. Jennifer Epstein of Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, said in a statement that “it seems likely that adolescents are experimenting with drinking and activities on the Internet. In turn, exposure to online material such as alcohol advertising or alcohol-using peers on social networking sites could reinforce teens' drinking.”
Fake Antibiotics Found
Several Texas children, mainly Hispanic, have been treated at an Austin hospital after being given medications falsely advertised as antibiotics and sold as dietary supplements under Spanish names similar to the names of real antibiotics, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The products have been sold as dietary supplements under names such as Amoxilina, Pentrexcillina, Ampitrexyl, Citricillin, Amoximiel, and Pentreximil, and the products' labeling falsely suggests that they are antibiotics, the department said. The products – including capsules, ointments, and liquids – don't seem to have active drug ingredients and are not approved to treat health conditions, according to the department.
McDonald's: Ronald Is Golden
McDonald's Corp. will continue to use mascot Ronald McDonald to advertise Happy Meals to children, despite calls for the fast food giant to cut the clown to help reduce childhood obesity, company CEO Jim Skinner told a shareholders' meeting. Mr. Skinner spoke in answer to a challenge by Donald Zeigler, Ph.D., the American Medical Association's director of prevention and healthy lifestyles, in a statement presented at the meeting. “Changing course now and ending marketing to kids … would have a profound impact on McDonald's reputation and the health and well-being of generations to come throughout the world,” Dr. Zeigler said. Mr. Skinner countered that the marketing strategy has yielded profits. “This is about the personal and individual right to choose,” he said.
You Too Can Fight Obesity
The nonprofit group National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality has begun recruiting community teams to its Healthy Weight Collaborative to fight obesity, a program funded by $5 million from the Affordable Care Act's prevention fund. In the first phase, the group is recruiting 10 teams that can be made up of physicians and public health leaders. The second phase, to launch in December, will include about 40 more teams that are to help “develop practical approaches that link primary care, public health, and communities to prevent and treat obesity for children and families, according to the initiative's website.