Children's Health News & Features

In a new study followed children from 4th grade through 5th grade, children with weak grips were over three times more likely to remain in poor health or to have declines in health than those with strong grips.

Three-year-old Byron Baxter has bones that break easily, sometimes with just a wave of his hand, his parents say. But he’s inspiring social media fans with his fighting spirit and cheerfulness in videos and pics his family posts online.

Moms who learned healthy nutrition strategies during their child’s first year had kids who were less likely to be overweight or obese, compared with children of mothers who were trained when the kids were between 3 and 5 years old, two new studies indicate.

Teenagers who exceed two hours daily of recreational screen time are nearly twice as likely to be overweight or obese, the review showed. Excess weight increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other health problems.

In 2013, an unvaccinated teen visited London and carried the measles virus home to New York City, according to a report the journal Pediatrics that traces the outbreak, the largest in the city since 1992. Fifty-eight people came down with the measles, out of more than 3,300 exposed contacts identified by public health officials.

A growing mound of scientific evidence has linked changes in children's hormone systems to chemicals used to preserve, package and enhance food. The changes can alter their normal development and increase their risk of childhood obesity, the new American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy statement argues.

Almost 9 out of 10 gluten-free foods aimed at children could be classified as having a poor nutritional value, a new study found.

Opioids Given Too Easily to Children, Study Finds By Dennis ThompsonHealthDay Reporter MONDAY, July 16, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Many children are prescribed powerful opioid painkillers they don't really need, putting them and those around them at risk, a new study shows.More than one in 10 kids enrolled in Tennessee's Medicaid program received an opioid prescription each year between 1999 and 2014, even though they did not have a severe condition requiring powerful painkillers, the researchers found."Opioids are commonly prescribed," said lead researcher Dr. Cecilia Chung, an assistant professor with the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "In a

Too Few Kids Screened For Developmental Delays By Robert PreidtHealthDay Reporter FRIDAY, July 13, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Doctors are supposed to screen young children to see if they're learning basic skills. But only 17 percent of kids get this critical testing in some places in the United States, a new study finds.Overall, fewer than one-third of U.S. children under 3 years old receive recommended screening for developmental problems, said researchers at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.And they found significant differences between states, with Oregon at the top and Mississippi at the bottom."Even in the best states,

Under New Guidelines, More Kids Have Hypertension By E.J. MundellHealthDay Reporter THURSDAY, July 12, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- There's good news and bad news from a new report when it comes to high blood pressure among America's children.The good news: perhaps because of better diets and use of antihypertensive medications, the percentage of kids with high blood pressure declined between 2001 and 2016, according to a research team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The bad news: New hypertension guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in 2017 lowered the threshold for a

A study found children under the age of 3 particularly at risk of broken bones from playground slides. They were 12 times more likely than older kids to be identified as riding on a lap at the time of their injury.

Eighteen-month-old Taylor McGowan has a shock of blond hair that obeys no brush or comb -- and a rare genetic disorder is the reason why.

According to NoHeatstroke.org, 760 children have died of heatstroke in cars since 1998. In over half of the cases, the child was left in the vehicle by accident.

For the fifth year in a row, Boston Children's Hospital is the No. 1 children’s hospital in the U.S., according to latest rankings by U.S. News & World Report.

The department said the child recently returned from a trip to Oregon, but it's not known whether the youngster contracted the plague in that state or in Idaho, the Journal reported.

When a swallowed button battery reacts with saliva and tissue of the esophagus, it creates a solution that dissolves tissue and can cause severe damage to the esophagus, airway, vocal cords and major blood vessels, the researchers explained.

The shot protects against three potentially serious infectious diseases of childhood, including whooping cough (pertussis).  In recent years, the "anti-vaxxer" movement -- a small minority of parents -- has raised concerns that routine childhood immunizations might carry long-term health risks for kids.

When they were 5 years old, researchers found that the children who had been given fish oil had smaller waists than the youngsters who were given a placebo.

It recommended letting water flow from a hose for a few minutes so that it can cool before it's sprayed on people or animals, CBS News reported.

The primary causes of injury deaths were motor vehicle accidents, suicide, firearms-related murders and drug overdoses, the report discovered.

The FDA previously warned consumers about the risks of benzocaine, which includes a risk of developing a disease known as methemoglobinemia, which can raise the levels of methemoglobin in the blood while dangerously lowering blood oxygen levels.

Prescriptions for antibiotics, antihistamines and cold medicines fell, while a growing number of kids received prescriptions for asthma, heartburn and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The poll of more than 1,100 audiologists and speech-language pathologists across the United States found that 69 percent said parents of young children are not aware of the early warning signs of  speech/language disorders.

The new study is one of the latest to look at whether kids with prenatal exposure to antidepressants -- specifically, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) -- are different from other kids.

Kids exposed to the combination of cigarette and pot smoke in a home  were also 80 percent more likely to develop ear infections.