AAP, Bright Futures update recommendations for preventive pediatric care

The AAP and Bright Futures made updates to their recommendations for preventive pediatric care, including adding a screening for hepatitis C virus infection.

The AAP and Bright Futures included the following additions to the periodicity schedule:

• Developmental disorders
  • A footnote was updated to say that screenings should occur as recommended in a Pediatrics article by Lipkin and colleagues, which noted that, “Developmental surveillance is supported at every health supervision visit, as is as the administration of standardized screening tests at the 9-, 18-, and 30-month visits.”
  • “When a child has a concerning screening result on developmental screening, further developmental and medical evaluations to identify the specific developmental disorders and related medical problems are warranted,” the authors wrote.
• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
  • A footnote was added to say that screenings should occur as recommended in another Pediatrics article by Hyman and colleagues — the first update to AAP's clinical recommendations for autism in 12 years — which emphasized the importance of early intervention, including a recommendation to conduct developmental and behavioral surveillance during all well visits with children, including developmental screening at 9, 18 and 30 months, and standardized screening for ASD at 18 and 24 months.
• Hepatitis C virus infection
  • A recommendation was added to conduct screenings at least once between the ages of 18 and 79 years, aligning with guidance from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

[Editor’s note: A previous version of this story included updates made to the periodicity schedule in recent past years. The story has been edited to include only the 2021 updates. The editors regret the error.]

References:

AAP. Engaging patients and families: Periodicity schedule. https://www.aap.org/en-us/professional-resources/practice-transformation/managing-patients/Pages/Periodicity-Schedule.aspx. Accessed February 16, 2021.

Hyman SL, et al. Pediatrics. 2020;doi:10.1542/peds.2019-3447.

Lipkin PH, et al. Pediatrics. 2020;doi:10.1542/peds.2019-3449.