Ital J Pediatr
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Infantile colic is a common disturbance occurring in the first three months of life. It is a benign condition and one of the main causes of pediatric consultation in the early part of life because of its great impact on family life. Some pediatricians are prone to undervalue this issue mainly because of the lack of evidence based medicine guidelines. ⋯ There is limited evidence supporting the use of complementary and alternative treatments (herbal supplements, manipulative approach and acupuncture) or behavioral interventions. Recent studies have focused the role of microbiota in the pathogenesis of this disturb and so new treatments, such as probiotics, have been proposed, but only few strains have been tested. Further investigations are needed in order to provide evidence-based guidelines.
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Multicenter Study
Factors influencing quality of life and disease severity in Hungarian children and young adults with cystic fibrosis.
The aim of our study was to evaluate factors affecting cystic fibrosis (CF) patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and to assess the level of agreement on HRQol between children and their parents. ⋯ Passive smoking, parental educational level and chronic diseases of parents do not affect the HRQoL of CF patients. In contrast, hospitalisation, PA infection and malnutrition have a significant and negative impact on patients' HRQoL and the clinical severity of the disease. Parents and children were consistent in their scoring of symptoms and behaviours that were observable.
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Comparative Study
Prevalence of hypovitaminosis D and predictors of vitamin D status in Italian healthy adolescents.
Vitamin D plays an important role in health promotion during adolescence. Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are common in adolescents worldwide. Few data on vitamin D status and risk factors for hypovitaminosis D in Italian adolescents are currently available. ⋯ Italian adolescents have high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency. Pediatricians should tackle predictors of vitamin D status, favoring a healthier lifestyle and promoting supplementation in the groups at higher risk of hypovitaminosis D.
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Observational Study
Performance of lung ultrasonography in children with community-acquired pneumonia.
There are few prospective evaluations of point-of-care ultrasonography (US) for the diagnosis of pediatric community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). In particular, there are very few data concerning the efficiency of US in comparison with that of chest radiography (CR) in defining different kinds of lung alterations in the various pulmonary sections. The aim of this study was to bridge this gap in order to increase our knowledge of the performance of US in diagnosing CAP in childhood. ⋯ US can be considered a useful means of diagnosing CAP in children admitted to an Emergency Department with a lower respiratory tract infection, although its usefulness in identifying the type of lung involvement requires further evaluation.
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Codeine is a mild opioid widely used as an analgesic in various age groups, including various pediatric settings. It is a prodrug that owes its analgesic effect almost entirely to the principal metabolite: morphine. The genetic polymorphisms can contribute to making the pharmacokinetics of codeine hard to predict and this it is particularly important in the pediatric population because infants and children have greater susceptibility to the side-effects of morphine. ⋯ In July 2013, the Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco prohibit the use of medicines containing codeine for patients under 12 years old and recommended a limited use of the drug, in many other situations. Complying with these recommendations naturally means changing habits and treatment strategies well established in pediatric practice, but other drugs, tools and techniques available enable us to continue to assure an adequate pain control in pediatric patients, irrespective of their age and situation. The article proposes same alternatives of pain control drugs.