October 1st, 2010 by Jennifer Shine Dyer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Research, True Stories
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As a medical professional who often treats children with chronic diseases, my patients turn to me not only for treatment advice but often for advice on how to improve their quality of life. I often have difficulty addressing the latter as there is a paucity of research on quality of life outcomes as compared to biomedical outcomes.
However, preliminary data from DR Walker et al. (1) have shown that comprehensive disease management improves quality of life and thereby reduces medical costs for some common chronic illnesses. Recently, a patient shared a story with me that was written by an anonymous author which demonstrates the powerful effect of seemingly small efforts on the quality of life of a disabled child. Read more »
September 29th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Humor, News, Opinion, Research
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Finally, the answer to the obesity epidemic. [According to the LA Times], it’s a virus:
New evidence indicates that children who are exposed to a virus called adenovirus-36 are more likely to be obese than those who are not exposed to it, and to be heavier than other obese kids who were not exposed to it, researchers said this week. The virus…is one of 10 bacteria and viruses that have been associated with a propensity for putting on plural poundage.
Maybe this explains why I and two of my sisters all became fat in the same year. Well, that — combined with the fact that we had just moved to a new neighborhood where there were no kids we knew to play outside with, and we started taking a bus to school instead of walking, and “Dark Shadows” had just started, leading us to spend every afternoon after school snacking in front of the TV. But I like to think it was a virus.
*This blog post was originally published at tbtam*
September 14th, 2010 by Maria Gifford in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Interviews, Research, True Stories
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Appearing as a Second Life 3D virtual-world avatar at Mayo Clinic’s “Transform 2010” symposium (watch the video here), Mrs. Q — a teacher and the anonymous author of the blog “Fed Up With Lunch: The School Lunch Project” — told the story of how her unique health mission has come to be. She’s determined to help people understand just how sick our “healthy” school lunches really are.
Mrs. Q has sparked the interest of child health advocates around the country. Thanks to programs like First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move Initiative” and Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution,” the nation is paying more attention to childhood obesity and school lunch reform.
Mrs. Q’s blog was started because of her own experiences with school meals after she ate the food prepared at school because she forgot her lunch at home. She keeps her identity a secret due to fear of losing her teaching job. Read more »
September 7th, 2010 by Dinah Miller, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Research
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The New York Times Magazine recently featured an article on preschooler depression. Pamela Paul wrote:
Diagnosis of any mental disorder at this young age is subject to debate. No one wants to pathologize a typical preschooler’s tantrums, mood swings and torrent of developmental stages. Grandparents are highly suspicious; parents often don’t want to know. “How many times have you heard, ‘They’ll grow out of it’ or ‘That’s just how he is’?” says Melissa Nishawala, a child psychiatrist at the New York University Child Study Center.
And some in the field have reservations, too. Classifying preschool depression as a medical disorder carries a risk of disease-mongering. “Given the influence of Big Pharma, we have to be sure that every time a child’s ice cream falls off the cone and he cries, we don’t label him depressed,” cautions Rahil Briggs, an infant-toddler psychologist at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in New York. Though research does not support the use of antidepressants in children this young, medication of preschoolers, often off label, is on the rise. One child psychologist told me about a conference he attended where he met frustrated drug-industry representatives. “They want to give these kids medicines, but we can’t figure out the diagnoses.” As Daniel Klein warns, “Right now the problem may be underdiagnosis, but these things can flip completely.”
Reference: “Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?” (The New York Times Magazine, August 25, 2010).
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
September 5th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Opinion, True Stories
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Many times when faced with a clinical dilemma, a parent will turn to me and ask: “What would you do if this were your child?”
When faced with this question, I never quite know what to say. And each time I feel a little on-the-spot. But why is that? Aren’t I comfortable recommending for someone else exactly what I would do for my own child? After all, what have I got to hide?
Here’s the problem: The decisions we make as parents involve our values, tolerance of risk, level of concern and frustration, prior health experience, and religious belief — to name but a few. There’s no way to fully tease those things from the parent sitting across the room. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
