Existing data do not demonstrate a need for combination therapy after antimicrobial susceptibility data indicate adequate in vitro activity with β-lactam monotherapy. However, the role of empirical combination therapy for the treatment of Gram-negative bacteremia in children remains unsettled.

We conducted a retrospective, propensity-score matched study demonstrating no improvement in 10-day mortality of children who have Gram-negative bacteremia receiving empirical β-lactam and aminoglycoside combination therapy compared with β-lactam monotherapy, unless the bacteremic episode was attributable to a multidrug-resistant organism. (Read the full article)

Home oxygen has been safely incorporated into emergency department management of bronchiolitis in certain populations. After discharge, a small proportion of patients (2.7%–6%) require subsequent admission. For patients managed successfully as outpatients, pediatricians report variable practice styles and comfort levels.

Our results define the clinical course and outpatient burden associated with discharge on home oxygen. By using an integrated health care system, we captured slightly higher rates (9.4%) of subsequent admission and found fever to be associated with this outcome. (Read the full article)

Up to 50% of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) meet criteria for a comorbid anxiety disorder. Despite the high prevalence of anxiety in these children, the impact of anxiety on the lives of children with ADHD has been largely overlooked.

Presence of ≥2 anxiety comorbidities in children with ADHD was associated with poorer child quality of life, daily functioning, and behavior. Multiple anxiety comorbidities were associated with poorer functioning for children with both ADHD-Inattentive and ADHD-Combined presentation. (Read the full article)

Hypothermia treatment of neonatal encephalopathy reduces death and disability from 66% to 50%; additional neuroprotective therapies are needed. We previously found in animal models that adding 50% xenon to the breathing gas during cooling doubled neuroprotection.

This clinical feasibility study used 50% xenon for 3 to 18 hours in 14 cooled infants with cardiovascular, respiratory, and amplitude-integrated EEG monitoring. This depressed seizures, with no blood pressure reduction. Xenon is ready for randomized clinical trials in newborns. (Read the full article)

Chorioamnionitis (CAM) is a major risk factor for early-onset neonatal sepsis. The Committee on the Fetus and Newborn recommends extending the duration of antimicrobial therapy in neonates exposed to CAM and intrapartum antibiotics if laboratory data are abnormal, even if culture results are sterile.

When managed by using a strategy similar to recent Committee on the Fetus and Newborn guidelines, a large number of term and late-preterm infants exposed to CAM who had sterile blood culture findings were treated with prolonged antibiotic therapy, subjected to additional invasive procedures, and had prolonged hospitalization. (Read the full article)

Animal studies document dose-dependent and duration-of-therapy-dependent fluoroquinolone cartilage toxicity in weight-bearing joints. Preliminary pediatric data collected after fluoroquinolone treatment and up to 1 year posttreatment in blinded and unblinded studies suggest the possibility of cartilage toxicity in children.

These are the first prospectively collected data on fluoroquinolone musculoskeletal safety collected posttherapy from randomized, comparative studies of respiratory tract infections and analyzed at 5 years. Long-term musculoskeletal adverse events occurred with equal frequency in both levofloxacin and comparator groups. (Read the full article)

Children born late and moderately preterm are at increased risk of developmental problems compared with term-born peers. Screening for developmental problems in the early years may thus aid in the early identification of children at risk for adverse outcomes.

The Parent Report of Children’s Abilities-Revised has good concurrent validity and 90% sensitivity and 76% specificity for identifying moderate/severe cognitive developmental delay in infants born late and moderately preterm. This parent questionnaire may be used as a clinical screening tool. (Read the full article)

Immigrant children are more likely to be uninsured versus nonimmigrant children. The extent to which immigrant families are aware of and interested in obtaining insurance is unclear. Obstacles to participation in insurance exchanges and public insurance programs are also unknown.

Barriers for children in immigrant families include awareness of and experience with various health insurance options, perceived costs and benefits of insurance, structural/policy restrictions on eligibility, and the likelihood of working organizations likely to offer employee insurance coverage. (Read the full article)

There is a generational shift in social norms related to body weight among adult population; little is known about the secular change of paternal perceptions of their child’s weight.

A shift in body norms toward heavier weight statuses exists among parents of children, presenting a vast challenge to family-based childhood obesity prevention. Primary care providers can play a more active role in identifying the children with increased weight. (Read the full article)

In HIV-infected children, decisions to start antiretroviral therapy must weigh immunologic benefits against potential risks. Current guidelines recommend using CD4 percentage and age when deciding to start treatment. Population-level effects of these factors on immunologic recovery are unknown.

Starting antiretroviral therapy at higher CD4 percentages and younger ages maximizes potential for immunologic recovery. However, not all benefits are sustained, and viral failure may occur. Our results help clinicians better weigh immunologic benefits against viral failure risks. (Read the full article)

Sleep disorders are common in children and adolescents and have a substantial negative impact on daily life and school performance. Long-term evaluations of the efficacy and safety of pharmacologic treatment options for sleep disorders are lacking in pediatric patients.

These 2 studies provide the first evaluation of the effectiveness and safety of eszopiclone in children and adolescents with insomnia associated with ADHD. Data presented here encompass longer-term (up to 1 year) pediatric exposure to eszopiclone. (Read the full article)

In 2003, the US Food and Drug Administration issued warnings about hyperglycemia and diabetes with second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs). Since 2004, hyperglycemic and diabetes risk with SGAs has been stated in product labels, and published guidelines have recommended baseline metabolic screening.

Between 2006 and 2011, 11% of children 2 to 18 years starting an SGA had baseline glucose assessed. Youth at risk for diabetes may not be identified. Further, lack of screening impedes determining the contribution of SGAs to hyperglycemia. (Read the full article)

Phototherapy decreases bilirubin concentration in skin more rapidly than in blood. During and after phototherapy, transcutaneous bilirubin measurements are considered unreliable and therefore discouraged.

Transcutaneous bilirubin underestimates total serum bilirubin by 2.4 mg/dL (SD, 2.1 mg/dL) during the first 8 hours after phototherapy. This gives a safety margin of ~7 mg/dL below the treatment threshold to omit confirmatory blood sampling. (Read the full article)

National adolescent vaccination coverage estimates in 2013 among 13- to 17-year-olds are 86% for Tdap vaccine and 78% for MCV4. Comparatively, coverage with ≥3 doses of HPV vaccine is 38% among girls and 14% among boys.

One-fourth of 11-year-olds had HPV vaccine co-administered with Tdap vaccine, compared with two-thirds who had MCV4 co-administered. Whereas by age 17 years, >92% received Tdap vaccine and MCV4, only half of girls and one-fifth of boys completed HPV vaccination. (Read the full article)

The incidence of cerebral palsy is dependent on the gestational age in very preterm infants and risk factors have been identified for term infants. The risk has also proved to be greater among late preterm births compared with term.

The incidence of cerebral palsy was 24-fold in moderately preterm and 6-fold in late preterm infants compared with full-term infants. The most prominent risk factors included asphyxia and intracranial hemorrhage. The incidence diminished over time and with increasing gestational age. (Read the full article)

Infants with Prader-Willi syndrome suffer from hypotonia, muscle weakness, and motor developmental delay and have increased fat mass combined with decreased muscle mass. Growth hormone improves body composition and motor development.

Ultrasound scans confirmed decreased muscle thickness in infants with Prader-Willi syndrome, which improved as result of growth hormone treatment. Muscle thickness was correlated to muscle strength and motor performance. Catch-up growth in muscle thickness was related to muscle use independent of growth hormone. (Read the full article)

Necrotizing enterocolitis is associated with high mortality and morbidity in premature infants. Anaerobic antimicrobial therapy has been associated with increased risk of intestinal strictures in a small randomized trial. Optimal antimicrobial therapy for necrotizing enterocolitis is unknown.

Anaerobic antimicrobial therapy was associated with increased risk of stricture formation. Infants with surgical necrotizing enterocolitis treated with anaerobic antimicrobial therapy had lower mortality. For infants with medical necrotizing enterocolitis, there was no added benefit associated with anaerobic antimicrobial therapy. (Read the full article)

Hospitalized pediatric patients are often exposed to many medications during an inpatient admission. Drug–drug interactions may increase the risk of developing medication-related adverse drug events, leading to serious clinical morbidity and mortality.

Exposure to "major" potential drug–drug interactions occurs in 41% of pediatric hospitalizations in children’s hospitals. One-half of all these exposures were due to less common specific drug pairs (≤3% of patients exposed per hospital day) and thus may be less clinically familiar. (Read the full article)

Parental depression is associated with adverse child outcomes. It is important to understand possible mediators and moderators. Several studies suggest that the family environment or parenting style may be potential pathways for transmission of risk from parents to children.

Paternal depression appears to exert its influence on children’s outcomes through an effect on family functioning (couple conflict and maternal depression), whereas maternal postnatal depression appears to affect children through other mechanisms, potentially including direct mother-infant interaction and care. (Read the full article)

Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) contributes to impairments in functioning across multiple settings. Online family problem-solving therapy may be effective in reducing adolescent behavioral morbidity after TBI. However, less is known regarding maintenance of effects over time.

This large randomized clinical trial in adolescents with TBI is the only study to examine maintenance of treatment effects. Findings reveal that brief, online treatment may result in long-term improvements in child functioning, particularly among families of lower socioeconomic status. (Read the full article)

Uptake of rotavirus vaccines has increased steadily since introduction. Despite their demonstrated impact, rotavirus vaccine coverage is lower than for other vaccines recommended in infancy and disease continues to occur.

We observed higher rotavirus detection rates among patients from provider locations with lower rotavirus vaccine coverage; providers who do not offer rotavirus vaccine to age-eligible children may create pockets of susceptible children that serve as reservoirs of ongoing disease transmission. (Read the full article)

There is growing evidence reporting that moderately preterm, late preterm, and early term infants are at increased risk of developmental delay. The characteristics of this association are not well established in the literature.

In a sample of infants born between 32 and 41 weeks, there was an inverse and "dose response" relationship between gestational age and developmental delay risk using the ASQ at 8 and 18 months of corrected postnatal age. (Read the full article)

Smoking has been found to increase the risk of some specific congenital anomalies; however, results remain inconsistent. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is increasingly being used as for smoking cessation in pregnancy although little is known about its association with congenital anomalies.

Being prescribed NRT while pregnant was not associated with major congenital anomalies (MCA), except a small increase in respiratory anomalies (3/1000 births). This must be considered in context of the rarity of MCAs and higher morbidities in the NRT group. (Read the full article)

Current childhood vaccination coverage rates among military dependents in the United States are not known. Past studies on childhood vaccination coverage in military dependents have shown mixed results, with the majority showing lower than ideal coverage rates.

This study analyzes a national database with 6 years of data and provider-confirmed vaccination status to describe the current documented vaccination coverage rates among military dependents in the United States. (Read the full article)

Heart rate (HR) increases with increasing body temperature. Previous studies have characterized the relationship among HR, age, and temperature for patients in primary care and emergency department settings but not in hospitalized children.

Our data demonstrate an overall increase in HR by ~10 beats/minute for each 1°C increase in body temperature. Expected heart rates for hospitalized children differ from those for primary care and emergency department patients at the same age and temperature. (Read the full article)

Clinical pain assessment methods in youth are vulnerable to underestimation bias and underrecognition. Facial expressions are sensitive, specific biomarkers of the presence and severity of pain. Computer vision–based pattern recognition enables measurement of pain-related facial expressions from video.

This study demonstrates initial validity for developing computer vision algorithms for automated pain assessment in children. The system developed and tested in this study could provide standardized, continuous, and valid patient monitoring that is potentially scalable. (Read the full article)

Tonsillectomy guidelines make evidence-based recommendations for the perioperative use of dexamethasone, no routine use of antibiotics, and discharge education of families and for surgeons to monitor bleeding complication rates. The impact of the guidelines on processes and outcomes is unknown.

The guidelines were associated with improvement in perioperative care processes but no improvement in outcomes. Perioperative dexamethasone use increased slightly, and antibiotic use decreased substantially. Bleeding rates were stable, but revisit rates for complications increased because of revisits for pain. (Read the full article)

The routine childhood immunization schedule is crowded during the first 2 years, leading to deferred doses and limiting the addition of new vaccines. Combination vaccines can reduce the "shot burden" and improve coverage rates and timeliness.

Antibody response rates to antigens contained in an investigational hexavalent vaccine (DTaP5-IPV-Hib-HepB) were noninferior to licensed comparator vaccines when given as a 3-dose infant series. The safety profile was similar to control except for increased rates of mild-to-moderate, self-limited fever. (Read the full article)

Infants born very prematurely or with a very low birth weight are known to have an increased risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Results concerning late preterm children are controversial and studies examining fetal growth represented by weight for gestational age are scarce.

We demonstrate that each declining week of gestation increases the risk of ADHD. Also, late preterm infants have an increased risk. Furthermore, as weight for gestational age becomes smaller than 1 SD below the mean, the risk of ADHD increases. (Read the full article)

Increasing percentages of youth are living with chronic medical conditions. Although adolescents face peak risks for onset and intensification of alcohol and marijuana use, we know little about these behaviors and their associations with treatment adherence among chronically ill youth.

This study quantifies alcohol and marijuana use behaviors among a heterogeneous sample of chronically ill youth in aggregate and by condition, and measures associations between alcohol use/binge drinking and knowledge about alcohol interactions with medications/laboratory tests and also treatment nonadherence. (Read the full article)

Intervention strategies are needed to reduce underage drinking. Meta-analyses of youth alcohol brief interventions (BIs) conclude that therapist-delivered BIs are efficacious; however, to maximize public health impact, recommendations include using technology to streamline intervention delivery, for which evidence is lacking.

A single-session BI, delivered by a computer or therapist in the emergency department, shows promise for underage drinkers. Findings for the stand-alone computer BI are particularly appealing given the ease of future implementation. (Read the full article)

Two prospective studies of children with septic arthritis have shown that the addition of dexamethasone to antibiotic therapy contributes to clinical and laboratory improvement. Nevertheless, the mainstay of treatment remains antibiotics alone.

This study, which was conducted outside a randomized controlled trial, demonstrates that children with septic arthritis treated early with a short course of adjuvant dexamethasone show earlier improvement in clinical and laboratory parameters than children treated with antibiotics alone. (Read the full article)

Many studies have suggested that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are commonly co-occuring neurodevelopmental conditions.

In children with co-occurring ASD and ADHD, an initial ADHD diagnosis may be associated with delayed ASD diagnosis and a higher likelihood of ASD diagnosis older than 6 years of age. Clinicians should consider ASD when evaluating young children presenting with ADHD symptoms. (Read the full article)

Sleep disturbances in infants associate with individual differences in temperament. However, little is known about interindividual differences and potential moderating factors, such as genotype.

The results suggest that the cumulative effect of total sleep duration during the first 3 years of life on temperament is moderated by child 5-HTTLPR genotype following a differential susceptibility model. (Read the full article)

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. More than 50% of sexually active men and women will acquire HPV infection in their lifetime. In 2011, HPV was recommended for routine use among male adolescents.

(Read the full article)

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