School Health News

Early education and quality child care should be promoted by pediatricians, including within the medical home as well as the within local, state and national settings, according to a recent policy statement issued by the AAP.

While the incidence and frequency of acute otitis media have decreased significantly following the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, risk factors – including day care attendance and family history of the condition – have remained the same.

Infectious disease is a major contributor to the widening gender gap in education in areas where girls are less likely to complete secondary education, due to the role an older female child may play in taking care of younger children who become ill in place of the mother, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

A significant proportion of brains donated by deceased football players for research showed neuropathological evidence of chronic trauma encephalopathy, according to research recently published in JAMA.

Administering a combination of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp lactis and Lactobacillus rhamnosus as a probiotic to prevent gastrointestinal and respiratory infections was not effective in limiting the number of days missed from child care in healthy infants, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

A notable decrease in smoking among high school students was observed between 2015 and 2016, with declines in current use of any tobacco product, use of any combustible product, use of two or more tobacco products and hookah use, according to a recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report issued by the CDC.

AMA delegates approved a new policy during their annual meeting intended to reduce the amount of sugar Americans receive from beverages, according to a press release.

Only 7% of child care directors within the United States reported that their centers had taken adequate steps to prevent the spread of influenza during an outbreak, despite prior experience with the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to research published in Pediatrics.

Health officials from Yolo County in northern California have reported an outbreak of norovirus in the county schools with 2,836 cases among students and faculty.

Children whose parents had received an influenza vaccine are 2.77 times more likely to be immunized against seasonal influenza and were more likely to be compliant with other recommended immunizations, including HPV, according to recent study findings.