School Health News

BOSTON — School-aged children with both obesity and asthma miss more school, have higher expenditures and exhibit both poorer health and more worry than children of normal weight, according to a recent presentation at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology’s Annual Scientific Meeting.

Kindergarteners entering the 2016-2017 school year maintained a high level of vaccination coverage, with 94.5% of children receiving all diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis doses and only a median of 2% of children listing exemptions to one or more vaccines, according to a recent report in the CDC MMWR.

SAN DIEGO — The CDC has described hand-washing as a “do-it-yourself” vaccine. Researchers here showed how it can prevent absenteeism due to illness among elementary school students.

Because of the high rates of injury associated with youth rugby, two experts from Newcastle University in England argue that tackle and other forms of harmful contact should be removed from the game, according to an opinion published in BMJ.

Results from a study published in The Journal of American Osteopathic Association showed symptoms lingered longer in 11-year-old to 18-year-old female athletes with first-time, sports-related concussions compared with male athletes of the same age.

Pediatricians are encouraged to screen youth athletes for skin conditions and infections that could be transmitted to their teammates, and dispense cautionary advice regarding proper personal hygiene and sanitary sporting equipment, according to joint clinical report from the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases and the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness.

CHICAGO —  As many as one in five anaphylactic events among children without known allergies are treated with epinephrine administered by an unlicensed school nurse or staff member, according to a recent presentation at the AAP 2017 National Conference & Exhibition.

CHICAGO — Children in the third to fifth grades who own cell phones are more likely to be cyberbullied as well as do the cyberbullying compared with traditional bullying, according to research presented at the 2017 AAP National Conference & Exhibition.

The use of intracranial pressure monitoring to improve functional survival outcomes in children with severe traumatic brain injury does not increase chances of functional survival, according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Sexual education that promotes “abstinence-only-until-marriage” is not effective at limiting sexual initiation or sexual risk behaviors, according to a review published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.