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Screen use and ways to protect pediatric eyesight
2024-12-20 - 2024-12
The article by Colleen Sloan, PA-C, RDN, Healthy eyes in a digital world, provides detailed information about the relationship between nutrition and screen time for young children.
Sloan presents the role of fatty acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, and antioxidants, such as Vitamin A, C, and E, along with the specific foods that provide these nutrients in the diet. Pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) and all health care providers (HCPs) will benefit from reading this article either as a refresher for nutrients that support eye health or to review new information about the foods that should be included in daily and weekly food choices.
The connection between nutrients and screen time highlights important information for PNPs and all HCPs to consider when providing anticipatory guidance, not only for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, but for children of all ages, adolescents, and young adults.
For parents who report that their toddler and/or older children, including adolescents, refuse to eat healthy foods that contain essential nutrients for eye health, recommendations for a multivitamin may be appropriate.
Maintaining eye health while exposed to blue light from computer screens
Sloan provides recommendations for nutritional guidance and digital eye health, however, information on possible changes in vision secondary to exposure to blue light emitted from computer screens must also be addressed.
There is a limited amount of research evidence on recommendations for the amount of time that is safe for children and adolescents to be engaged in on-screen activities.
Research studies have focused on internet addiction for school age and/or adolescents,1 negative behaviors encountered during screen time, such as bullying 2 and suicide risk,3 the physical, cognitive, and emotional outcomes of media overuse for school aged children,4 electronic media use and sleep patterns,5 and sedentary behaviors with an increased risk for obesity.6
During the COVID-19 pandemic children and adolescents spent more time on screens, attended classes online, completed homework on computers or tablets, played games online, and spent more time watching television. This extended time on screens was recognized as having the potential to negatively affect eye health leading to refractive errors which was termed "quarantine myopia."7
While the authors, Desideri, Barra, and Tovani-Palone did not conduct research studies to investigate whether an increase in refractive errors occurred during COVID-19’s home-schooling periods, they recommended myopia screening and a complete ophthalmological examination for children and adolescents who participated in online learning during COVID-19 stay-at-home mandates.7
Today, educators should consider using a variety of educational strategies in classrooms and for homework assignments to reduce overall screen time during learning activities both at school and at home.
Parents should be educated about screen time
Clinical characteristics and risk factor s of Clostridioides difficult infection in children with diarrhea 27 Jan, 2025
2025-01-27 - 2025-01To investigate the clinical characteristics and risk factors of Clostridioides difficult infection (CDI) in children with diarrhea, and to provide evidence for the clinical prevention and treatment of CDI. Methods: The clinical data of 192 children with diarrhea suspected of CDI admitted from August 2020 to March 2023 were retrospectively analyzed and divided into two groups according to whether CDI occurred, and the clinical characteristics and risk factors of the two groups were analyzed statistically. Results: There were 85 cases of CDI in children with diarrhea, 60 males (70.6%) and 25 females (29.4%), with a male to female ratio of 2.4:1; clinical manifestations were mostly fever, diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting and blood in stool, with no statistically significant differences compared to the non-infected group. C-reactive protein (CRP) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) were lower in the CDI group than in the non-CDI infected group, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Multi-factor logistic regression analysis was used to show that a history of hospitalization within the last three months, a history of antibiotic treatment for ? 7d, non-breastfeeding, and a history of antibiotic combined with probiotic treatment were risk factors for CDI in children with diarrhea (P < 0.05).Conclusions: A history of hospitalization within the last three months, previous antibiotic treatment for ? 7d or combined with probiotic treatment, and non-breastfeeding are risk factors for CDI in children with diarrhea, so children with diarrhea who present as described above need to be alerted to CDI infection and are advised to have active investigations to facilitate rapid and effective control of the disease and improve prognosis.
Many adolescents have social media accounts despite being underage
2025-01-28 - 2025-01
Nearly 70% of adolescents report having at least one social media account, including 63.8% of youth aged younger than 13 years, according to a report in Academic Pediatrics.
“Underage use of social media may be associated with several health concerns,” Jason M. Nagata, MD, associate professor of pediatrics in the division of adolescent and young adult medicine at University of California San Francisco, and colleagues wrote. “Previous studies have documented that adolescent screen use was associated with several morbidities including psychological consequences, such as anxiety and depression.”
In June of 2024, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA, called for warning labels on social media platforms, arguing that social media use has contributed to the youth mental health crisis.
Nagata and colleagues analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which included 11,875 children across the. They investigated social media use from 2019 through 2021 for 10,092 adolescents (48.3% girls; median age, 12.9 years; standard deviation, 0.97 years).
Healing Hearts: Natalie Shwaish's Journey in Pediatric Cardiology
2025-01-29 - 2025-02
At Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, Natalie Shwaish, MD, mends young hearts with dedication and passion. Her journey into medicine began at age four when she declared she wanted to be a “pedianutrition,” blending pediatrics and nutrition. Despite twists and turns along the way, her passion for helping others never wavered. “I think I was born to be a physician,” Shwaish said. Her determination pushed her through medical school, keeping pediatrics in focus.
Initially drawn to surgery, Shwaish realized during her training that her true calling was elsewhere. "I missed spending time talking to my patients and getting to watch them grow up," she explains. Pediatrics felt like home, but her love for solving complex problems eventually led her to pediatric cardiology. "It clicked," she says, describing her first encounter with cardiac physiology.
Shwaish finds immense reward in supporting families through some of their most challenging times. “Cardiac disease in a child is probably one of the scariest things a parent can go through,” she says. Her mission is to ease their suffering, and seeing children grow into strong, resilient young adults brings her joy and pride.
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