Childhood Ailments Research Articles

Assessing the Influence of Age, Weight, and Pirani Score on the Number of Casts During the Initial Phase of Clubfoot Treatment Using the Ponseti Method: A Prospective Study.

Clubfoot, also known as congenital talipes equinovarus is a prevalent childhood ailment that, if untreated, can lead to long-term discomfort and impairment. The Ponseti technique, aimed at achieving corrected foot positioning, is widely accepted. This study investigated the influence of clubfoot severity (Pirani score), patient age, and initial manipulation and casting weight on the overall number of casts needed for effective treatment. A prospective study was carried out involving 40 idiopathic clubfoot patients where manipulation and casting were performed following the Ponseti method. Patient age, weight, and foot Pirani score were evaluated concerning the total number of casts needed to achieve 70° of abduction. The majority of participants were male infants aged 4-6months, with a median age of 4.5months. Half of them weighed between 3.00 and 4.99kg at their first hospital visit, with a median weight of 3.20kg. Bilateral clubfoot involvement was common (57.5%). Children with Pirani HFCS 2.0-3 often required percutaneous tenotomy (87.5%, p value 0.05). On average, patients needed 5 casts (range 3-9). The mean total Pirani scores were 4.71 for the right foot and 4.61 for the left foot. The study reported a positive correlation between higher total Pirani scores and the required number of casts. The Pirani scoring system is highly accurate in assessing clubfoot severity and predicting treatment success. It emerged as the single most significant predictor for both the total number of casts and the need for percutaneous tenotomy.

Childhood Ailments in Two Mining Towns in North West Tasmania in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century

The discovery of tin in northwest Tasmania precipitated a flood of miners into the area, followed shortly, inevitably by their families. Paediatrics became part of the local doctors’ practice. Childhood ailments excluding infectious diseases in the mining towns of Waratah and Zeehan in north-west Tasmania as documented in the local newspapers a century ago are described. The challenges of working in such a remote environment and the diverse skills expected of a medical practitioner in a situation similar to today’s remote general practice are outlined. Details of the infectious conditions experienced in that environment have been previously published.

'A sad inheritance of misery': the cultural life of hereditary scrofula in eighteenth-century England.

This essay argues that scrofula was one of several disorders, including gout, rickets, and venereal disease, that were 'rebranded' as hereditary in response to broader cultural changes that took place during the Restoration and eighteenth century in England. While the purposes of scrofula's recategorisation were more political than medical, they resulted in this heretofore relatively obscure childhood ailment assuming a new prominence within both medical and popular discourses of the period. Scrofula became both emblem and proof of the links between sexual promiscuity, financial profligacy, and physiological degeneration, its symbolic status reinforced by the legal and moral language used to model processes of hereditary transmission. By likening the inheritance of scrofula to the inheritance of original sin-or, more commonly, to the inheritance of a 'docked entail' or damaged estate-eighteenth-century writers and artists not only made this non-inherited ailment into a sign of catastrophic hereditary decline; they also paved the way for scrofula to be identified as a disease of aristocratic vice, even though its association with crowded, unsanitary living conditions likely made it more common among the poor. By the same token, financial models of disease inheritance facilitated a bias toward paternal transmission, with scrofula often portrayed as passing, like a title or an estate, from father to son rather than from mother to daughter.

Comprehensive comparison of modified deep convolutional neural networks for automated detection of external and middle ear conditions

Otitis media disease, a frequent childhood ailment, could have severe repercussions, including mortality. This disease induces permanent hearing loss, commonly seen in developing countries with limited medical resources. It is estimated that approximately 21,000 people worldwide die from reasons related to this disease each year. The main aim of this study is to develop a model capable of detecting external and middle ear conditions. Experiments were conducted to find the most successful model among the modified deep convolutional neural networks within two scenarios. According to the results, the modified EfficientNetB7 model could detect normal, chronic otitis media, earwax, myringosclerosis cases with high accuracy in Scenario 2. This model offers average values of 99.94% accuracy, 99.86% sensitivity, 99.95% specificity, and 99.86% precision. An expert system based on this model is expected to provide a second opinion to doctors in detecting external and middle ear conditions, particularly in primary healthcare institutions and hospitals lacking field specialists.

Systemic symptoms associated with tooth eruption in children: A narrative review

Teething has been attributed to various childhood ailments and physical disturbances since ancient times. Due to this some of the organic childhood diseases may go untreated thereby harming the child’s general health. Taking this negative impact into account, this review article aims at informing the medical community of the systemic symptoms that are associated with teething

Child health services and armed conflict in Tigray, North Ethiopia: a community-based study

BackgroundAccess to basic health services, notably child health services, is severely hampered by the armed conflict in Tigray, North Ethiopia. Little is known regarding the impacts of the armed conflict during the war in Tigray on access to child health services. The current study investigates the impact of the armed conflict on the utilization of child health services in Tigray.Methods4,381 caregivers from randomly recruited households (HHs) with at least one child younger than 1 year old participated in a community-based cross-sectional survey. We collected data on childhood immunizations and illness-related treatment seeking from August 4 to 20, 2021. We describe data using frequency and percentage and carry out an internal comparison among the study participants using chi-square tests.Results4,381 children under the age of one included in the study. In total, 39% of infants received no basic vaccines, 61.3% of the children under the age of one received at least one vaccine, and 20% received all the vaccinations recommended for their age. About 61% of children were affected by at least one childhood ailments where majority of them were from rural areas. Mothers who did not seek postnatal care (PNC) were responsible for more than 75% of reported childhood illnesses.ConclusionsA sizable portion of children were unvaccinated and had at least one childhood sickness while the war was in progress. Particularly, people who live in rural areas reported a higher percentage of children’s illnesses but a lower use of child health services. To lower childhood morbidity and mortality in the besieged area, such as Tigray, local to global actors need to get coordinated and warrying parties should stop weaponization of vaccination healthcare services.

SYNTACTIC EXPRESSIVENESS IN DESCRIBING THE AILMENTS OF YOUNG CHARACTERS IN THE NOVEL TURN OFF SPELLING BY EVA NEMESH’S

The relevance of the study is determined by several facts: firstly, in recent years, the interest of linguists in studying the expressiveness and emotionality of a child’s oral and written speech has enhanced; secondly, in modern teenage prose, which is part of the school curriculum, descriptions of children’s health defects and ailments are increasing; thirdly, consideration of expressiveness manifestation in the text at the syntactic level contributes to a better understanding of the ideological content of the work.
 The purpose of the study is to identify the main syntactic means of expressing expressiveness in modern children’s and youth prose, highlighting the ailments of child characters, and to determine their meaning based on the material of Eva Nemesh’s novel Turn Off Spelling.
 The scientific novelty of the study consists in the fact that the ways of expressing emotionality and evaluation when describing the ailments of young character in a work of modern Russian prose addressed to children are considered for the first time.
 Results. The current research describes the frequency syntactic means of expressiveness in the description of childhood ailments in E. Nemesh’s novel Turn Off Spelling. It was found that, when creating an asymmetric syntactic drawing, a children’s author refers to such expressive constructions as inverse word arrangement (32%), repetitions and its varieties (5%), segmentation (13%) and parcellation (22%), as well as to rhetorical constructions – 15% (rhetorical questions, exclamations, addresses and question-exclamation forms) and to ellipsis (2%). The expressive potential of the specific composition of sentences is considered (complex sentences – 41%, simple sentences – 59%), special attention to single-compound verb-type sentences is paid (27%).

Diagnosis and Management of Pediatric Heart Failure.

Heart failure is a highly morbid syndrome, recognized as a major cause of adult mortality. Heart failure in pediatric patients, whether in the setting of congenital or acquired heart disease, is similarly associated with high mortality and resource utilization. Understanding the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and initial stabilization of pediatric heart failure is paramount for any acute care clinician as it may mimic common childhood ailments like viral respiratory or gastrointestinal illnesses. Pediatric heart failure occurs in patients with palliated or unpalliated congenital heart disease, familial or acquired cardiomyopathy, acquired valve disease, and myocarditis. This review will focus on heart failure in pediatric patients with structurally normal hearts and will summarize what is known about patterns of presentation, etiologies, diagnostic evaluation, and the acute and chronic management of this highly morbid syndrome.

Knowledge and perspectives in management of common childhood illnesses by caregivers to under-five children in southwestern nigeria: synopsis of self-medication practices

The information and opinions of the caregivers about various childhood ailments serve as a fundamental foundation for the practice of self-medication among under-five-year-old children. The outcome of the health status of children under five is greatly influenced by the scope of such knowledge and perception. The usage of medications for children is a major global problem since they are viewed as a vulnerable population. Although self-medication behaviors are widespread in Nigeria, little is known about how they affect the youngest, most vulnerable children. The knowledge and perceived management of common pediatric disorders among children under the age of five by their caregivers in southwest Nigeria were the subjects of this study. Based on their degree of cosmopolitanism and lack of cosmopolitanism, two local government areas from the states of Lagos and Osun were chosen for the study. Nine hundred and sixty-eight caregivers to under-five children were systematically randomly selected for the study. Data were collected with the aid of structured interviewer-administered questionnaire through the use of Open Data Kit. The knowledge and the perception of caregivers were assessed via vignette-designed questions that were explained to the respondents by the trained research assistants. The data were analyzed using the STATA Package software. The unit of analysis was frequency distribution and percentages. The common childhood illnesses identified by the respondents were malaria, otitis media (ear infection), gastro-enteritis (diarrheal and vomiting), measles, mumps, respiratory tract infection, and febrile convulsion. In general, the caregivers showed a very good knowledge of the CCI presented to them. They identified correctly the illnesses associated with the symptoms. In assessing the possible causes of these CCI, the caregivers commonly attributed the cause to natural phenomena like weather, seasonal changes, dust, and sunny environment. Also, poor hygienic conditions and infection by parasites were identified to be responsible for these CCI. However, their perceived causes of some CCI were very poor. The most visited source of procurement of medicaments was pharmacy or chemist shops in their locality. Pharmacists, friends, and parents were the sources of medication by adolescents as they procured over-the-counter drugs, analgesics, and antibiotics to self-medicate. The classes of products used mostly were drugs prescribed by doctors and any available medicine in their home. The predominant reason given by a greater proportion of the respondents is their affordability of the products which was represented by the cheap cost of self-medication practice in this study. In conclusion, the caregivers in this study are very knowledgeable on the various CCI affecting their under-five children and their belief in the probable causes of the CCI are tuned towards natural causes, infection by parasites, and environmental causes. It is believed that the degree of the caregiver’s knowledge will determine the quality of childcare practice to their under-five children.

Health-Seeking Behaviour for Childhood Ailments in Caregivers of Under-Five Children in an Urban Resettlement Colony in Delhi, India

This explorative qualitative study assesses the health-seeking behaviour for childhood ailments in caregivers of under-five children in a low-income neighbourhood in Delhi, India during July-September 2021. A total of 17 caregivers (mothers) of eight male and nine female under-five children were enrolled, with the mother being the caregiver in most (94%) cases.Caregivers consulted on common childhood ailments from multiple sources, including family, neighbours, healthcare providers (both licensed and unlicensed), frontline workers, and local pharmacists. The internet was often used as a source of child health information due to its ease of access but often "confused" caregivers due to the presence of too much information.Health-seeking behaviour of caregivers for childhood ailments could range from self-medication, local pharmacist dispensing, and private and public healthcare providers. Factors that influenced preference for the healthcare facility or provider were accessibility issues (waiting time, queuing), perceived physician competence, and associated out-of-pocket expenses. Caregivers reported dissatisfaction with government health facilities because of shorter operational hours, overcrowding, suboptimal sanitation, queuing with limited seating arrangements, and occasionally discourteous health staff. Self-medication and over-the-counter use of antibiotics was high due to a lack of awareness of the challenges of antibiotic resistance or any perceived side effects.Preference for unlicensed practitioners for medical treatment was low and based on long-term familial beliefs and acceptance. However, traditional practitioners enjoyed a high level of trust in the community from shared cultural values, enjoining attenuation of the perceived non-biological agents of childhood illnesses through non-medical supernatural interventions.

Teething Myths and Practices among Nursing Mothers Attending the Paediatric Outpatient Clinic in a Tertiary Hospital in Southern Nigeria

Background: Misconceptions about teething are prevalent even in the 21st century, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. These myths, which are handed down from one generation to another may lead to trivialization of severe childhood illnesses as well as practices that negatively impact child morbidity and mortality.
 Aim: The present study was carried out to determine teething myths and practices among nursing mothers attending the Paediatric outpatient clinic of a tertiary hospital in Southern Nigeria.
 Methods and Materials: A cross-sectional study of one hundred and forty eight nursing mothers of children aged 6-24 months who had erupted at least one tooth, who visited the children’s outpatient clinic of a tertiary health facility in Southern Nigeria. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0. Descriptive statistics was used. Chi square tests of significance (Fisher’s exact test) were used with a 95% confidence interval (P< 0.05).
 Results: A high percentage of mothers (95.9%) associated teething with various symptoms such as fever, gum itching and diarrhoea; majority of them got information on teething from health workers, personal experience or parents. About 41.9% of the children recruited had perceived teething symptoms. Furthermore, 51.4% of respondents said teething should be treated and health workers formed the bulk of prescribers of teething medicines, the commonest of which were teething syrups, paracetamol and teething powder while the least used was herbs. About half of the respondents believed teething medicines were effective. Most respondents would take their babies to the hospital for perceived teething symptoms like fever, diarrhoea or vomiting but were less likely to visit the hospital if catarrh, drooling of saliva or sucking of the fingers was observed. The level of education, occupation, tribe, age of mother or baby, sex or position of child did not significantly affect the use of teething medication but the presence of perceived teething symptoms especially fever and vomiting did.
 Conclusion: Teething myths are common among nursing mothers attending a tertiary paediatric outpatient hospital in Southern Nigeria. The most common myths associated with teething were fever, gum itching and diarrhoea for which medications such as teething syrup, paracetamol and teething powder were prescribed. The association of these symptoms with teething could lead to trivialization of potentially severe childhood illnesses thus interfering with their prompt diagnosis and management. Continuous health education of nursing mothers and the community at large may be one of the ways of enlightenment on the innocuous and normal expectation of teething so as to avoid ascribing childhood ailments to teething.

Intestinal Microbiota Transplantation in Children

It is concluded that Intestinal Microbiota Transplantation can be beneficial in numerous childhood ailments, considering in the application, the recommendations of the FDA, due to the current crisis of COVID-19.

The cannabidiol conundrum: potential benefits and risks of cannabidiol products for children.

Since the federal ban on hemp products was lifted in December 2018, cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive cannabinoid derived from hemp, has become increasingly popular and accessible. CBD is sold in the form of oils, tablets, and foods in locations including gas stations, cafés, and drug stores. Despite a lack of reliable evidence, many parents praise its purported therapeutic effects on a variety of childhood ailments. Epidiolex was the first CBD-based medication to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2018 for the treatment of two rare and severe forms of epilepsy, known as Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndrome, in patients of at least 2 years of age. Its efficacy was assessed through three randomized, double blind, and placebo-controlled trials in a sample of 516 patients with either Lennox-Gastaut syndrome or Dravet syndrome. Despite this development, there are few or no large-scale, rigorous studies concerning the effects of CBD on any other pediatric conditions that parents have tried to alleviate with CBD. The purpose of this review is to explore recent literature regarding the efficacy and safety of CBD in treating various health conditions in children; the risks of consuming CBD products, and the role of pediatricians in helping parents navigate often-confusing information about CBD. Although CBD use has dramatically increased in recent years, both its potential to treat conditions and its risks have not yet been subjected to rigorous study. Pediatricians should be aware of the risks posed by poor-quality standards and labeling practices for cannabinoid products. Due to the confusing nature of the numerous sources of information about CBD, pediatricians are in a position to provide and clarify information about CBD to parents and understand the risks it poses to children.

Associating State of Water and Sanitation with Childhood diarrhoea: Anomalies and Contradictions

Abstract Information on safe water, sanitation and hand washing obtained in large scale surveys are used to validate its responsiveness to childhood ailments. Definition of these variables are uniform to enable comparison within and across countries and devoid of the context and circumstance. Associating these variables with prevalence of diarrhoea overlooking the context seem to distort the relationship and lead to spurious results. An empirical verification of such an association in an Indian context based on the most recently conducted NFHS-4 data set brings to the fore apparent contradictions that cautions on the use of these variables as they are obtained. It calls for a redefinition of these variables prior to verifying their responsiveness to childhood diarrhoea as illustrated here.

Accuracy of online discussion forums on common childhood ailments.

ObjectivesThe research sought to determine if the health advice provided in online discussion forms aimed at parents of young children is accurate and in agreement with evidence found in evidence-based resources and to discover whether or not these forums are an avenue for misinformation.MethodsTo determine which online forums to use, Google was searched using five common childhood ailments. Forums that appeared five or more times in the first five pages of the Google search for each question were considered. Of these forums, those that met the inclusion criteria were used. Data from a six-month time period was collected and categorized from the discussion forums to analyze the advice being provided about common childhood ailments. Evidence-based resources were used to analyze the accuracy of the advice provided.ResultsTwo discussion forums were chosen for analysis. Seventy-four questions from one and 131 questions from the other were health related. Data were not analyzed together. Of the health-related questions on the 2 forums, 65.5% and 51.8%, respectively, provided some type of advice. Of the advice provided, 54.1% and 47.2%, respectively, agreed with the evidence provided in evidence-based resources. A further 16.2% and 6.3% was refuted or was somewhat refuted by the evidence found in evidence-based resources.ConclusionWhile roughly half of the health-related advice provided in online discussion forums aimed at parents of young children is accurate, only a small portion of the advice is incorrect; therefore, these sources are not a major concern for the spread of misinformation.

CE: Original Research: Pain in Nonverbal Children with Medical Complexity: A Two-Year Retrospective Study.

Retrospective chart review was used to identify the initial presenting symptoms, sources of pain, and nursing documentation for 46 children with medical complexity who were admitted with a chief concern of pain to a 395-bed pediatric teaching hospital in the northeastern United States. Irritability, pain, feeding intolerance, and "not acting like herself [or himself]" were common parent-reported symptoms that prompted further evaluation. On average, five diagnostic studies were taken to identify a source of pain, and four specialty services were consulted during the admission. Nursing assessments of pain were documented approximately every three hours; the mean pain intensity score documented was 1.1 out of 10. The discharge diagnoses included infection (including urinary tract infection), seizures, constipation, chronic pain, failure to thrive, dehydration, and subdural hematoma. The discharge diagnoses covered a wide range. A systematic approach to pain evaluation could help to ensure that the diagnostic process is both thorough and efficient. Common childhood ailments such as constipation or urinary tract infection, as well as other causes, must be considered when diagnosing pain in this population. Practice implications include consulting parents regarding changes in a child's behavior.

Association between the age of solid food introduction and eczema: A systematic review and a meta-analysis.

Eczema is a common childhood ailment responsible for a considerable disease burden. Both timing of introduction to solid food and allergenic food are believed to be related to childhood eczema. Despite the growing body of evidence, the relationship between timing of any solid food introduction (allergenic and/or non-allergenic) and development of eczema has not previously been systematically reviewed. PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched using food and eczema terms. Two authors selected papers according to the inclusion criteria and extracted information on study characteristics and measures of association. Meta-analyses were performed after grouping studies according to the age and type of exposure. A total of 17 papers met the inclusion criteria, reporting results from 16 study populations. Of these, 11 were cohort studies, 2 case-controls, 1 cross-sectional study and 2 randomized controlled trials. Limited meta-analyses were performed due to heterogeneity between studies. Timing of solid food introduction was not associated with eczema. One randomized controlled trial provided weak evidence of an association between early allergenic (around 4 months) food introduction and reduced risk of eczema. The available evidence is currently insufficient to determine whether the timing of introduction of any solid food influences the risk of eczema.

Effects of Processing Time on Comprehension and Calibration in Print and Digital Mediums

ABSTRACTThis study explored the effects of processing texts in print or digitally on readers' comprehension, processing time, and calibration. Eighty-six undergraduates read print and digital versions of book excerpts about childhood ailments presented in counterbalanced order. Comprehension was tested at three levels (i.e., main idea, key points, and other relevant information). Direct comparisons between print and digital reading demonstrated a significant advantage for reading in print on students' recall of key points and other relevant information but not the main idea. When processing time was added as a mediator variable, it significantly affected the relation between medium and comprehension for all question levels. In terms of calibration, students read more quickly and judged their performance higher when engaged digitally, although their actual performance was much better when reading in print. Implications of these findings for subsequent research are considered.

Viral Infections and Associated Factors That Promote Acute Exacerbations of Asthma.

Despite asthma being the most common chronic childhood ailment, there is still much to learn about the disease. Early childhood infections with well-known or emerging viruses can lay the pathophysiologic framework for asthma development and exacerbation later in life, which may be due partly to alteration of the airway microbiome. Once asthma is established, acute exacerbations are usually associated with infections with respiratory viruses, such as rhinoviruses (RVs). Once again, there are bidirectional interactions between viruses and airway bacteria that appear to influence the severity of illness and the likelihood of exacerbation. Studies employing recent advances in viral and bacterial identification analytic techniques will clarify these new concepts and may provide the basis for new treatments or prevention or respiratory infection-associated exacerbation. This paper is a review of the associations among respiratory viruses, bacteria, inflammatory mechanisms, and asthma exacerbation.

Managing childhood ailments: Scarlet fever

Scarlet fever, or scarlatina, is an infection that causes a blotchy, pink–red rash. It is common in young children but it can affect people of any age. It is not usually serious and can be treated by a course of antibiotics from the child's GP. Once a child has had scarlet fever they are unlikely to get it again ( National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2015 ).