What's new in pediatrics from UpToDate

Tweet

You can find all these abstracts on PubMed but UpToDate certainly does a nice job collecting them in one place. Brief excerpts from this summary are listed below.

Immunization

13-valent PCV

The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13), which was licensed in February, replaces the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7).

Immunization pain

Sucrose or glucose before immunization in infants (1 to 12 months) was associated with reductions in the incidence and duration of crying.

Measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella vaccine

The risk of febrile seizures one to two weeks after immunization is increased twofold in children ages 12 to 23 months who receive the combination measles/mumps/rubella/varicella (MMRV) vaccine compared with children who receive separate injections of MMR and varicella vaccine.

Asthma

Children with mild to moderate persistent asthma who were treated with inhaled glucocorticoids had better pulmonary function and asthma control (eg, fewer asthma exacerbations requiring systemic glucocorticoids, less albuterol use, and lower symptom scores) than those treated with montelukast.

Smoking initiation

Nicotine dependence can develop within days to weeks of the onset of occasional cigarette use, and often before the onset of daily smoking.

Diabetes

Even mild elevations in fasting blood sugar values during childhood predict a risk for developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Children with fasting blood sugar values in the upper half of the normal range (between 86 and 99 mg/dL [4.8 to 5.5 mmol/L]) have 2.1 times the risk for developing diabetes during adulthood, independent of the child's weight.

Button battery ingestion

The number of severe and/or fatal button battery ingestions has increased almost sevenfold since 1985 with serious sequelae or death occurring in 2.7 percent of all button battery ingestions. Ingestion of large diameter (greater than 20 mm) lithium cell batteries is strongly associated with worse outcomes (eg, esophageal burn, perforation, or fistula) and death.

Head lice

Oral ivermectin is an effective therapy for head lice that is refractory to topical treatment. Ivermectin was superior to malathion 0.5% lotion for the treatment of head lice in patients who had previously failed therapy with a topical pediculicide. Ivermectin is not recommended for pregnant women or children weighing less than 15 kg.

Infantile hemangioma

Topical beta-blockers may be useful for the treatment of infantile hemangiomas - treatment with topical timolol 0.5% gel led to a statistically significant reduction in lesion size in 6 patients.

Hepatitis C

The combination therapy of pegylated interferon and ribavirin yielded 93 percent sustained viral response in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection with genotype 2 or 3, and 53 percent in those with genotype 1.

Childhood absence epilepsy

Ethosuximide and valproic acid were more effective than lamotrigine in eliminating seizures in childhood absence epilepsy. Ethosuximide had a more favorable adverse event profile compared with valproic acid.

Enzyme replacement therapy

Velaglucerase alfa, a recombinant glucocerebrosidase, was approved for the treatment of Gaucher disease. Velaglucerase differs from imiglucerase in that the enzyme protein sequence is human.

Intravenous alglucosidase alfa (Lumizyme) was approved for in Pompe disease.

References:
What's new in pediatrics. UpToDate.

Image source: UpToDate.