Pediatric News

Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) should be grouped into one disease, Still’s disease, according to new diagnosis and treatment recommendations presented at the annual European Congress of Rheumatology.

The recommendations, made in collaboration with EULAR and the Pediatric Rheumatology European Society, emphasized that the ultimate treatment target for Still’s disease should be drug-free remission in all patients and that macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) should be identified and treated as soon as possible.

The task force focused on MAS because despite effective, innovative therapies, “we continued to see MAS,” said presenter Bruno Fautrel, MD, Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital, Paris. “We have to be very concerned about this potential complication.”

Dr. Fautrel copresented the recommendations with Fabrizio De Benedetti, MD, PhD, head of the division of rheumatology, Bambino Gesù Hospital, Rome.
 

Diagnosis

Dr. Fautrel noted that the cutoff age of 16 that differentiates sJIA and AOSD is “arbitrary.” There are some differences in age: The frequency of the disease is higher in young children, but it plateaus in young adults. Children under 18 months old are also far more likely to develop MAS.

To diagnose and treat Still’s disease, the recommendations state that clinicians should consider four criteria:

• A fever spiking at or above 39° C (102.2° F) for at least 7 days.
• A transient rash, preferentially on the trunk, that coincides with fever spikes, rash is typically erythematous but other rashes, like urticaria, can be consistent with the diagnosis.
• Some musculoskeletal involvement is common, involving arthralgia/myalgia.
• High levels of inflammation identified by neutrophilic leukocytosis, increased serum C-reactive protein (CRP), and ferritin.

Dr. Fautrel noted that, while arthritis can be present, it is not necessary to make a diagnosis. In pediatrics, “arthritis is likely to happen after a few weeks of the evolution of the disease,” and waiting for arthritis to develop can lead to diagnostic delay, “which is a problem.”

For individuals with suspected Still’s disease, NSAIDs can be used as a “bridging therapy” before the diagnosis is confirmed.
 

Treatment

The recommendations emphasized that treatment and therapeutic strategy “should be based on shared decision-making between the parents/patients and the treating team,” with the ultimate goal of drug-free remission.

To achieve this goal, the document outlines time-based targets for clinically inactive disease (CID). At 4 weeks, patients should have no fever, reduction of active or swollen joint count by more than 50%, a normal CRP level, and a rating of less than 20 on a visual analog scale of 0-100. At 3 months, patients should maintain clinically inactive disease with a glucocorticoid dose of less than 0.1 or 0.2 mg/kg per day. At 6 months, CID should be maintained without glucocorticoids.

While the authors of the recommendations noted that glucocorticoids are efficacious, their long-term use should be avoided because of safety issues. An interleukin-1 or IL-6 inhibitor should be prioritized and initiated as soon as possible after diagnosis.

Patients should maintain CID between 3 and 6 months before tapering off biologics.

The recommendations are congruent with the 2021 American College of Rheumatology’s guidelines for sJIA, noted Karen Onel, MD, pediatric rheumatologist, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, and the principle investigator for the ACR guidelines. One main difference is that the EULAR recommendations included time lines for treatment targets, while the ACR’s did not.

“It’s great to have these time lines in there,” she said in an interview, though there are still some unknowns. “We don’t actually know what the tapering frequency should be,” she said, “but these are definitely goals that we need to explore and see how they evolve.”
 

MAS and lung complications

The EULAR recommendations also touched on two concerning complications, particularly in children: MAS and lung disease. According to the document, MAS should be considered in patients with Still’s disease with these symptoms: fever, splenomegaly, elevated serum ferritin, low cell counts, abnormal liver function tests, elevated serum triglycerides, and intravascular activation of coagulation. The MAS 2016 criteria can also be used to facilitate diagnosis.

“MAS treatment must include high-dose glucocorticoids,” the document states. “In addition, treatments including anakinra, ciclosporin, and/or interferon-gamma inhibitors should be considered as a part of initial therapy.”

The recommendations also addressed the risk for lung disease, “which is an emerging issue, particularly in children, that the physician should be very well aware of,” Dr. De Benedetti said. This complication can arise at any time point of the disease, he added.

The document advised actively screening for lung disease by searching for clinical symptoms such as digital clubbing, persistent cough, and shortness of breath. Pulmonary function tests like pulse oximetry and diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide may also be used, but these standard lung function tests are very difficult to do in children under 6 years old, Dr. De Benedetti noted. The recommendations advise performing high-resolution CT in “any patients with clinical concerns.”

“We have lowered the threshold for CT scan because of the emerging features of this lung disease that may actually be lethal and therefore require prompt attention,” Dr. De Benedetti noted.

The recommendations for lung disease are “broad,” as there is still much to learn about the risk for lung disease in a small portion of sJIA patients, Dr. Onel said.

“There’s a lot that we are trying to work out about this; exactly how to screen, who to screen, what to do, who to treat, and how to treat really remains unclear,” she said. “We absolutely agree that this is a major, major issue that we need to come to some sort of agreement upon, but we’re just not there yet.”

Dr. De Benedetti, Dr. Fautrel, and Dr. Onel disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) should be grouped into one disease, Still’s disease, according to new diagnosis and treatment recommendations presented at the annual European Congress of Rheumatology.

The recommendations, made in collaboration with EULAR and the Pediatric Rheumatology European Society, emphasized that the ultimate treatment target for Still’s disease should be drug-free remission in all patients and that macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) should be identified and treated as soon as possible.

The task force focused on MAS because despite effective, innovative therapies, “we continued to see MAS,” said presenter Bruno Fautrel, MD, Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital, Paris. “We have to be very concerned about this potential complication.”

Dr. Fautrel copresented the recommendations with Fabrizio De Benedetti, MD, PhD, head of the division of rheumatology, Bambino Gesù Hospital, Rome.
 

Diagnosis

Dr. Fautrel noted that the cutoff age of 16 that differentiates sJIA and AOSD is “arbitrary.” There are some differences in age: The frequency of the disease is higher in young children, but it plateaus in young adults. Children under 18 months old are also far more likely to develop MAS.

To diagnose and treat Still’s disease, the recommendations state that clinicians should consider four criteria:

• A fever spiking at or above 39° C (102.2° F) for at least 7 days.
• A transient rash, preferentially on the trunk, that coincides with fever spikes, rash is typically erythematous but other rashes, like urticaria, can be consistent with the diagnosis.
• Some musculoskeletal involvement is common, involving arthralgia/myalgia.
• High levels of inflammation identified by neutrophilic leukocytosis, increased serum C-reactive protein (CRP), and ferritin.

Dr. Fautrel noted that, while arthritis can be present, it is not necessary to make a diagnosis. In pediatrics, “arthritis is likely to happen after a few weeks of the evolution of the disease,” and waiting for arthritis to develop can lead to diagnostic delay, “which is a problem.”

For individuals with suspected Still’s disease, NSAIDs can be used as a “bridging therapy” before the diagnosis is confirmed.
 

Treatment

The recommendations emphasized that treatment and therapeutic strategy “should be based on shared decision-making between the parents/patients and the treating team,” with the ultimate goal of drug-free remission.

To achieve this goal, the document outlines time-based targets for clinically inactive disease (CID). At 4 weeks, patients should have no fever, reduction of active or swollen joint count by more than 50%, a normal CRP level, and a rating of less than 20 on a visual analog scale of 0-100. At 3 months, patients should maintain clinically inactive disease with a glucocorticoid dose of less than 0.1 or 0.2 mg/kg per day. At 6 months, CID should be maintained without glucocorticoids.

While the authors of the recommendations noted that glucocorticoids are efficacious, their long-term use should be avoided because of safety issues. An interleukin-1 or IL-6 inhibitor should be prioritized and initiated as soon as possible after diagnosis.

Patients should maintain CID between 3 and 6 months before tapering off biologics.

The recommendations are congruent with the 2021 American College of Rheumatology’s guidelines for sJIA, noted Karen Onel, MD, pediatric rheumatologist, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, and the principle investigator for the ACR guidelines. One main difference is that the EULAR recommendations included time lines for treatment targets, while the ACR’s did not.

“It’s great to have these time lines in there,” she said in an interview, though there are still some unknowns. “We don’t actually know what the tapering frequency should be,” she said, “but these are definitely goals that we need to explore and see how they evolve.”
 

MAS and lung complications

The EULAR recommendations also touched on two concerning complications, particularly in children: MAS and lung disease. According to the document, MAS should be considered in patients with Still’s disease with these symptoms: fever, splenomegaly, elevated serum ferritin, low cell counts, abnormal liver function tests, elevated serum triglycerides, and intravascular activation of coagulation. The MAS 2016 criteria can also be used to facilitate diagnosis.

“MAS treatment must include high-dose glucocorticoids,” the document states. “In addition, treatments including anakinra, ciclosporin, and/or interferon-gamma inhibitors should be considered as a part of initial therapy.”

The recommendations also addressed the risk for lung disease, “which is an emerging issue, particularly in children, that the physician should be very well aware of,” Dr. De Benedetti said. This complication can arise at any time point of the disease, he added.

The document advised actively screening for lung disease by searching for clinical symptoms such as digital clubbing, persistent cough, and shortness of breath. Pulmonary function tests like pulse oximetry and diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide may also be used, but these standard lung function tests are very difficult to do in children under 6 years old, Dr. De Benedetti noted. The recommendations advise performing high-resolution CT in “any patients with clinical concerns.”

“We have lowered the threshold for CT scan because of the emerging features of this lung disease that may actually be lethal and therefore require prompt attention,” Dr. De Benedetti noted.

The recommendations for lung disease are “broad,” as there is still much to learn about the risk for lung disease in a small portion of sJIA patients, Dr. Onel said.

“There’s a lot that we are trying to work out about this; exactly how to screen, who to screen, what to do, who to treat, and how to treat really remains unclear,” she said. “We absolutely agree that this is a major, major issue that we need to come to some sort of agreement upon, but we’re just not there yet.”

Dr. De Benedetti, Dr. Fautrel, and Dr. Onel disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) and adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) should be grouped into one disease, Still’s disease, according to new diagnosis and treatment recommendations presented at the annual European Congress of Rheumatology.

The recommendations, made in collaboration with EULAR and the Pediatric Rheumatology European Society, emphasized that the ultimate treatment target for Still’s disease should be drug-free remission in all patients and that macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) should be identified and treated as soon as possible.

The task force focused on MAS because despite effective, innovative therapies, “we continued to see MAS,” said presenter Bruno Fautrel, MD, Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital, Paris. “We have to be very concerned about this potential complication.”

Dr. Fautrel copresented the recommendations with Fabrizio De Benedetti, MD, PhD, head of the division of rheumatology, Bambino Gesù Hospital, Rome.
 

Diagnosis

Dr. Fautrel noted that the cutoff age of 16 that differentiates sJIA and AOSD is “arbitrary.” There are some differences in age: The frequency of the disease is higher in young children, but it plateaus in young adults. Children under 18 months old are also far more likely to develop MAS.

To diagnose and treat Still’s disease, the recommendations state that clinicians should consider four criteria:

• A fever spiking at or above 39° C (102.2° F) for at least 7 days.
• A transient rash, preferentially on the trunk, that coincides with fever spikes, rash is typically erythematous but other rashes, like urticaria, can be consistent with the diagnosis.
• Some musculoskeletal involvement is common, involving arthralgia/myalgia.
• High levels of inflammation identified by neutrophilic leukocytosis, increased serum C-reactive protein (CRP), and ferritin.

Dr. Fautrel noted that, while arthritis can be present, it is not necessary to make a diagnosis. In pediatrics, “arthritis is likely to happen after a few weeks of the evolution of the disease,” and waiting for arthritis to develop can lead to diagnostic delay, “which is a problem.”

For individuals with suspected Still’s disease, NSAIDs can be used as a “bridging therapy” before the diagnosis is confirmed.
 

Treatment

The recommendations emphasized that treatment and therapeutic strategy “should be based on shared decision-making between the parents/patients and the treating team,” with the ultimate goal of drug-free remission.

To achieve this goal, the document outlines time-based targets for clinically inactive disease (CID). At 4 weeks, patients should have no fever, reduction of active or swollen joint count by more than 50%, a normal CRP level, and a rating of less than 20 on a visual analog scale of 0-100. At 3 months, patients should maintain clinically inactive disease with a glucocorticoid dose of less than 0.1 or 0.2 mg/kg per day. At 6 months, CID should be maintained without glucocorticoids.

While the authors of the recommendations noted that glucocorticoids are efficacious, their long-term use should be avoided because of safety issues. An interleukin-1 or IL-6 inhibitor should be prioritized and initiated as soon as possible after diagnosis.

Patients should maintain CID between 3 and 6 months before tapering off biologics.

The recommendations are congruent with the 2021 American College of Rheumatology’s guidelines for sJIA, noted Karen Onel, MD, pediatric rheumatologist, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, and the principle investigator for the ACR guidelines. One main difference is that the EULAR recommendations included time lines for treatment targets, while the ACR’s did not.

“It’s great to have these time lines in there,” she said in an interview, though there are still some unknowns. “We don’t actually know what the tapering frequency should be,” she said, “but these are definitely goals that we need to explore and see how they evolve.”
 

MAS and lung complications

The EULAR recommendations also touched on two concerning complications, particularly in children: MAS and lung disease. According to the document, MAS should be considered in patients with Still’s disease with these symptoms: fever, splenomegaly, elevated serum ferritin, low cell counts, abnormal liver function tests, elevated serum triglycerides, and intravascular activation of coagulation. The MAS 2016 criteria can also be used to facilitate diagnosis.

“MAS treatment must include high-dose glucocorticoids,” the document states. “In addition, treatments including anakinra, ciclosporin, and/or interferon-gamma inhibitors should be considered as a part of initial therapy.”

The recommendations also addressed the risk for lung disease, “which is an emerging issue, particularly in children, that the physician should be very well aware of,” Dr. De Benedetti said. This complication can arise at any time point of the disease, he added.

The document advised actively screening for lung disease by searching for clinical symptoms such as digital clubbing, persistent cough, and shortness of breath. Pulmonary function tests like pulse oximetry and diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide may also be used, but these standard lung function tests are very difficult to do in children under 6 years old, Dr. De Benedetti noted. The recommendations advise performing high-resolution CT in “any patients with clinical concerns.”

“We have lowered the threshold for CT scan because of the emerging features of this lung disease that may actually be lethal and therefore require prompt attention,” Dr. De Benedetti noted.

The recommendations for lung disease are “broad,” as there is still much to learn about the risk for lung disease in a small portion of sJIA patients, Dr. Onel said.

“There’s a lot that we are trying to work out about this; exactly how to screen, who to screen, what to do, who to treat, and how to treat really remains unclear,” she said. “We absolutely agree that this is a major, major issue that we need to come to some sort of agreement upon, but we’re just not there yet.”

Dr. De Benedetti, Dr. Fautrel, and Dr. Onel disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

I’m Art Caplan, PhD. I’m at the division of medical ethics at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine.

An interesting situation has arisen that many doctors who do physical examinations and primary care are facing, which is whether a chaperone has to be present for any examination of what are often referred to as sensitive areas, such as breasts, genitalia, and the perianal area.

In some institutions, there has been a movement toward saying a chaperone must be present, that it’s mandatory. I know that is true at Yale’s health care centers and clinics. Others do so when the patient requests it. An interesting situation sometimes occurs when the hospital or the clinic requires a chaperone but the patient says, “I don’t want a chaperone. I want my privacy. I want the gynecologist or the urologist only. I don’t want anyone else to be seeing me. I’m not comfortable with anyone other than the doctor in the room.”

Complicating this issue of when is a chaperone appropriate and when can it be refused, if ever, is the fact that the role of chaperone is ill defined. For example, there isn’t really agreement on who can be a chaperone. Could it be a medical student? Could it be a nurse? Could it be another doctor? Should it be someone who at least has finished nursing school or medical school? Can it be a patient representative? There are no standards about who can play the role.

Should the chaperone be available to be seen when they’re in the room? Should they stay behind a curtain or somewhere where they’re not, so to speak, intrusive into what’s going on in the exam room? Do they sit in a chair? Do they stand? How do they behave, if you will? There’s no agreement.

There’s still no agreement on the training that a chaperone should have. Do we charge them with trying to represent what’s going on with the patient or trying to protect the doctor against any accusations that are ill founded about inappropriate conduct? Are they supposed to do both? How do they obtain consent, if they do, from the patient undergoing an examination in a sensitive part of their body or one that they’re sensitive about?

This area really requires some hard thinking if you’re considering having chaperones present. I think there are some online courses that offer some training. I haven’t looked at them, but they might be worth a look to see if they make you more comfortable about getting a chaperone oriented. I think it’s probably important to set a policy saying a chaperone must always be present for these kinds of examinations and list them, or one can be requested no matter what is going on in terms of the kind of exam being conducted.

There needs to be some statement saying that you have permission to either accept them or refuse them – or you don’t. Should they always be present, for example, with patients who are minors, adolescents or children? Does that extend that far out where a guardian, parent, or someone has to give permission?

In this area, I think we can all understand why chaperones have come to the fore, including allegations of misconduct and inappropriate touching, and considering comfort levels of patients to just put them more at ease. It’s obvious that we haven’t, as a nation or a medical profession, thought it through to the degree to which we have to.

I’m certainly not anti-chaperone, and I believe that if patients are more comfortable having one present, or a doctor is more comfortable having one present, or if we all agree that there are certain patients – kids – where certain types of examinations require or ought to expect the chaperone to be present, that’s wonderful.

We’ve got to lay out the rights of the doctors. We’ve got to lay out the rights of the institutions. We’ve got to lay out the rights of the patients. We should agree on who these people are. We should agree on how they’re trained.

We’ve got some work ahead of us if we’re going to have chaperones become a standard part of the medical examination.

Dr. Kaplan reported conflicts of interest with the Franklin Institute, Tengion, Biogen Idec, Johnson & Johnson, and PriCara.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

I’m Art Caplan, PhD. I’m at the division of medical ethics at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine.

An interesting situation has arisen that many doctors who do physical examinations and primary care are facing, which is whether a chaperone has to be present for any examination of what are often referred to as sensitive areas, such as breasts, genitalia, and the perianal area.

In some institutions, there has been a movement toward saying a chaperone must be present, that it’s mandatory. I know that is true at Yale’s health care centers and clinics. Others do so when the patient requests it. An interesting situation sometimes occurs when the hospital or the clinic requires a chaperone but the patient says, “I don’t want a chaperone. I want my privacy. I want the gynecologist or the urologist only. I don’t want anyone else to be seeing me. I’m not comfortable with anyone other than the doctor in the room.”

Complicating this issue of when is a chaperone appropriate and when can it be refused, if ever, is the fact that the role of chaperone is ill defined. For example, there isn’t really agreement on who can be a chaperone. Could it be a medical student? Could it be a nurse? Could it be another doctor? Should it be someone who at least has finished nursing school or medical school? Can it be a patient representative? There are no standards about who can play the role.

Should the chaperone be available to be seen when they’re in the room? Should they stay behind a curtain or somewhere where they’re not, so to speak, intrusive into what’s going on in the exam room? Do they sit in a chair? Do they stand? How do they behave, if you will? There’s no agreement.

There’s still no agreement on the training that a chaperone should have. Do we charge them with trying to represent what’s going on with the patient or trying to protect the doctor against any accusations that are ill founded about inappropriate conduct? Are they supposed to do both? How do they obtain consent, if they do, from the patient undergoing an examination in a sensitive part of their body or one that they’re sensitive about?

This area really requires some hard thinking if you’re considering having chaperones present. I think there are some online courses that offer some training. I haven’t looked at them, but they might be worth a look to see if they make you more comfortable about getting a chaperone oriented. I think it’s probably important to set a policy saying a chaperone must always be present for these kinds of examinations and list them, or one can be requested no matter what is going on in terms of the kind of exam being conducted.

There needs to be some statement saying that you have permission to either accept them or refuse them – or you don’t. Should they always be present, for example, with patients who are minors, adolescents or children? Does that extend that far out where a guardian, parent, or someone has to give permission?

In this area, I think we can all understand why chaperones have come to the fore, including allegations of misconduct and inappropriate touching, and considering comfort levels of patients to just put them more at ease. It’s obvious that we haven’t, as a nation or a medical profession, thought it through to the degree to which we have to.

I’m certainly not anti-chaperone, and I believe that if patients are more comfortable having one present, or a doctor is more comfortable having one present, or if we all agree that there are certain patients – kids – where certain types of examinations require or ought to expect the chaperone to be present, that’s wonderful.

We’ve got to lay out the rights of the doctors. We’ve got to lay out the rights of the institutions. We’ve got to lay out the rights of the patients. We should agree on who these people are. We should agree on how they’re trained.

We’ve got some work ahead of us if we’re going to have chaperones become a standard part of the medical examination.

Dr. Kaplan reported conflicts of interest with the Franklin Institute, Tengion, Biogen Idec, Johnson & Johnson, and PriCara.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

I’m Art Caplan, PhD. I’m at the division of medical ethics at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine.

An interesting situation has arisen that many doctors who do physical examinations and primary care are facing, which is whether a chaperone has to be present for any examination of what are often referred to as sensitive areas, such as breasts, genitalia, and the perianal area.

In some institutions, there has been a movement toward saying a chaperone must be present, that it’s mandatory. I know that is true at Yale’s health care centers and clinics. Others do so when the patient requests it. An interesting situation sometimes occurs when the hospital or the clinic requires a chaperone but the patient says, “I don’t want a chaperone. I want my privacy. I want the gynecologist or the urologist only. I don’t want anyone else to be seeing me. I’m not comfortable with anyone other than the doctor in the room.”

Complicating this issue of when is a chaperone appropriate and when can it be refused, if ever, is the fact that the role of chaperone is ill defined. For example, there isn’t really agreement on who can be a chaperone. Could it be a medical student? Could it be a nurse? Could it be another doctor? Should it be someone who at least has finished nursing school or medical school? Can it be a patient representative? There are no standards about who can play the role.

Should the chaperone be available to be seen when they’re in the room? Should they stay behind a curtain or somewhere where they’re not, so to speak, intrusive into what’s going on in the exam room? Do they sit in a chair? Do they stand? How do they behave, if you will? There’s no agreement.

There’s still no agreement on the training that a chaperone should have. Do we charge them with trying to represent what’s going on with the patient or trying to protect the doctor against any accusations that are ill founded about inappropriate conduct? Are they supposed to do both? How do they obtain consent, if they do, from the patient undergoing an examination in a sensitive part of their body or one that they’re sensitive about?

This area really requires some hard thinking if you’re considering having chaperones present. I think there are some online courses that offer some training. I haven’t looked at them, but they might be worth a look to see if they make you more comfortable about getting a chaperone oriented. I think it’s probably important to set a policy saying a chaperone must always be present for these kinds of examinations and list them, or one can be requested no matter what is going on in terms of the kind of exam being conducted.

There needs to be some statement saying that you have permission to either accept them or refuse them – or you don’t. Should they always be present, for example, with patients who are minors, adolescents or children? Does that extend that far out where a guardian, parent, or someone has to give permission?

In this area, I think we can all understand why chaperones have come to the fore, including allegations of misconduct and inappropriate touching, and considering comfort levels of patients to just put them more at ease. It’s obvious that we haven’t, as a nation or a medical profession, thought it through to the degree to which we have to.

I’m certainly not anti-chaperone, and I believe that if patients are more comfortable having one present, or a doctor is more comfortable having one present, or if we all agree that there are certain patients – kids – where certain types of examinations require or ought to expect the chaperone to be present, that’s wonderful.

We’ve got to lay out the rights of the doctors. We’ve got to lay out the rights of the institutions. We’ve got to lay out the rights of the patients. We should agree on who these people are. We should agree on how they’re trained.

We’ve got some work ahead of us if we’re going to have chaperones become a standard part of the medical examination.

Dr. Kaplan reported conflicts of interest with the Franklin Institute, Tengion, Biogen Idec, Johnson & Johnson, and PriCara.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

After 100 years of insulin therapy, teplizumab, an immunotherapy for early-stage type 1 diabetes, has been approved for the first time in the United States and has been shown to delay the manifestation of clinical diabetes by 3 years on average. As a prerequisite for the use of the anti-CD3 antibody teplizumab, patients must undergo a general screening for type 1 diabetes. Whether this prerequisite makes sense was the subject of hot debate among experts at the Diabetes Congress in Berlin.

Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, MD, PhD, director of the Institute for Diabetes Research in Helmholtz Munich, argued that voluntary screening for type 1 diabetes should be included in standard care. “The first immunotherapy that delays type 1 diabetes has been approved in the U.S. for early stage 2. And this early stage can only be identified through prior screening, since no symptoms have manifested by this stage,” she said. This is the only way in which as many people as possible, particularly children, will benefit from the disease-delaying therapy, she added.
 

Two autoantibodies

One biomarker for the early diagnosis of type 1 diabetes is evidence of at least two positive islet cell antibodies. In one study of more than 13,000 children who were observed for 20 years, the specificity of these antibodies was 100%. “Every single child with a positive autoantibody test developed type 1 diabetes later on in their life,” Dr. Ziegler said. “Based on the results of this study, the early stages of type 1 diabetes were added to multiple guidelines.”

The early stage of type 1 diabetes is divided into the following three phases, depending on autoantibody detection and the level of glucose metabolism:

• Early stage 1: Two or more islet autoantibodies and normoglycemia.
• Early stage 2: Two or more islet autoantibodies and dysglycemia.
• Early stage 3: Symptoms, hyperglycemia, insulin therapy.

The aim of the ongoing FR1DA study is to ascertain whether the general population could also be screened for type 1 diabetes using this autoantibody. “Since 2015, children of kindergarten and school age have undergone screening, and to date, more than 170,000 have been tested,” said Dr. Ziegler. “At least two autoantibodies were detected in 0.3% of those screened.”
 

Education and care

The families of the children in whom early-stage type 1 diabetes was diagnosed were invited to take an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), to undergo measurement of hemoglobin A1c, and to take part in training and monitoring. “Education and competent, ongoing care are crucial for the efficacy of the screening,” Dr. Ziegler emphasized.

The OGTT revealed that 85% of the FR1DA children were still in early stage 1, another 11% were in early stage 2, and the remaining 4% were in early stage 3.

“Unfortunately, the 4% could no longer benefit from teplizumab, since the medication is not approved for manifest diabetes,” said Dr. Ziegler. “However, the 11% could receive teplizumab immediately, and then later on, the 85%, when they developed stage 2. Therefore, further observation of the children is also important.”

The speed at which the disease progresses from early stage 1 to early stage 2 can be stratified using IA2 antibodies, the 90-minute OGTT glucose value, and the HbA1c value. With regard to progression to clinical type 1 diabetes (stage 3), it was observed that the progression risk for the FR1DA children was similar to that of international birth cohorts with increased genetic risk. “Of course, there is still no 20-year follow-up like for BABYDIAB, DIPP, and DAISY, but as of yet, the progression rate is practically identical,” said Dr. Ziegler.
 

Dubious benefits?

The advantages of screening for type 1 diabetes would not be limited to potential access to preventive therapies and a smooth transition to insulin therapy at the correct point in time, according to Dr. Ziegler. Participation in the FR1DA study dramatically reduced the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Between 2015 and 2023, the overall rate of ketoacidosis associated with the manifestation of clinical type 1 diabetes was 4.3%. In contrast, the general DKA rate in Germany has remained largely unchanged for the last 2 decades at between 20% and 25%.

In addition, the FR1DA children exhibited better beta cell function and better metabolic function at clinical diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. This finding was observed in a comparison with children with a spontaneous diabetes diagnosis from the DiMelli study. “It is important that there is a lot of data that shows how, in the long term, this is associated with a better morbidity and mortality,” said Dr. Ziegler.

Despite the impressive data from the FR1DA study, not all diabetes experts are convinced that a general screening for type 1 diabetes would be beneficial. Beate Karges, MD, PhD, of the Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine of the Bethlehem Hospital Stolberg (Germany) and the endocrinology and diabetology department at the University Hospital Aachen (Germany), stressed, “Screening makes sense if the disease is curable in the preclinical phase or if there is a significantly better prognosis in the event of early diagnosis and treatment.”
 

Severe side effects

Even with an early-stage diagnosis, curing type 1 diabetes is impossible. The new anti-CD3 antibody teplizumab merely delays the manifestation of symptoms for 3 years. However, this delay has its price. The summary of product characteristics for teplizumab contains warnings of severe lymphopenia lasting many weeks, cytokine release syndrome, severe infections, and hypersensitivity reactions. Furthermore, vaccinations may not be administered during teplizumab treatment and therefore must be completed in advance.

“Preventing type 1 diabetes is still not possible, we can only delay it, and the long-term efficacy and safety of this immunotherapy are not clear,” said Dr. Karges. She added that a significant reduction in the DKA rate – as observed in the FR1DA study – may be possible even without screening. This possibility was demonstrated by a model project in Stuttgart, Germany, in which the DKA rate was significantly reduced through education alone.
 

Education reduces ketoacidosis

“The families were given information about the early signs of type 1 diabetes during the education investigation. Through this [education], a reduction in the ketoacidosis rate from 28% to 16% was achieved,” said Dr. Karges. It is also known from studies of familial type 1 diabetes that secondary sufferers in the family only exhibit a DKA rate of 7%. “Through education within the family and awareness campaigns, the DKA rate can be reduced by 40%-65%,” said Dr. Karges.

Dr. Karges also doubts whether starting insulin therapy earlier “at the correct point in time” elicits long-term advantages. Secondary sufferers with familial type 1 diabetes have better HbA1c values in the first few years after diagnosis. “But as they progress beyond 2, towards 10 years, the difference in HbA1c values diminishes,” said Dr. Karges.

Whether the patient has DKA at type 1 diabetes diagnosis also seems to make little difference in the long term. “There is also no difference in the HbA1c value in the 2-10 years after diagnosis,” said Dr. Karges. “Glycemic control is not permanently improved in the event that treatment is started early,” she concluded.

“Type 1 diabetes can be delayed with an immune intervention, but to do so, we must also accept possible severe side effects in an otherwise healthy child,” she said. On the other hand, type 1 diabetes can be treated well. “With pumps and continuous glucose monitoring, insulin therapy in children and adolescents has become significantly safer and more effective,” she said.
 

New therapeutic options

Whether voluntary screening for type 1 diabetes eventually finds its way into standard care depends on the further development of preventive medications. Dr. Ziegler stressed that future preventive therapy does not need to be limited to the anti-CD3 antibody teplizumab.

For example, strategies such as high-dose oral insulin therapy are being investigated. Verapamil, which is used to treat hypertension, is also promising, since with it, beta cells were retained in early stage 3, and it improved their function. The fusion protein abatacept fell short of statistical significance in a recently published study. For Dr. Ziegler, one thing remains true. “The therapy of type 1 diabetes is about to undergo a renaissance.”

This article was translated from the Medscape German Edition. A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

After 100 years of insulin therapy, teplizumab, an immunotherapy for early-stage type 1 diabetes, has been approved for the first time in the United States and has been shown to delay the manifestation of clinical diabetes by 3 years on average. As a prerequisite for the use of the anti-CD3 antibody teplizumab, patients must undergo a general screening for type 1 diabetes. Whether this prerequisite makes sense was the subject of hot debate among experts at the Diabetes Congress in Berlin.

Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, MD, PhD, director of the Institute for Diabetes Research in Helmholtz Munich, argued that voluntary screening for type 1 diabetes should be included in standard care. “The first immunotherapy that delays type 1 diabetes has been approved in the U.S. for early stage 2. And this early stage can only be identified through prior screening, since no symptoms have manifested by this stage,” she said. This is the only way in which as many people as possible, particularly children, will benefit from the disease-delaying therapy, she added.
 

Two autoantibodies

One biomarker for the early diagnosis of type 1 diabetes is evidence of at least two positive islet cell antibodies. In one study of more than 13,000 children who were observed for 20 years, the specificity of these antibodies was 100%. “Every single child with a positive autoantibody test developed type 1 diabetes later on in their life,” Dr. Ziegler said. “Based on the results of this study, the early stages of type 1 diabetes were added to multiple guidelines.”

The early stage of type 1 diabetes is divided into the following three phases, depending on autoantibody detection and the level of glucose metabolism:

• Early stage 1: Two or more islet autoantibodies and normoglycemia.
• Early stage 2: Two or more islet autoantibodies and dysglycemia.
• Early stage 3: Symptoms, hyperglycemia, insulin therapy.

The aim of the ongoing FR1DA study is to ascertain whether the general population could also be screened for type 1 diabetes using this autoantibody. “Since 2015, children of kindergarten and school age have undergone screening, and to date, more than 170,000 have been tested,” said Dr. Ziegler. “At least two autoantibodies were detected in 0.3% of those screened.”
 

Education and care

The families of the children in whom early-stage type 1 diabetes was diagnosed were invited to take an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), to undergo measurement of hemoglobin A1c, and to take part in training and monitoring. “Education and competent, ongoing care are crucial for the efficacy of the screening,” Dr. Ziegler emphasized.

The OGTT revealed that 85% of the FR1DA children were still in early stage 1, another 11% were in early stage 2, and the remaining 4% were in early stage 3.

“Unfortunately, the 4% could no longer benefit from teplizumab, since the medication is not approved for manifest diabetes,” said Dr. Ziegler. “However, the 11% could receive teplizumab immediately, and then later on, the 85%, when they developed stage 2. Therefore, further observation of the children is also important.”

The speed at which the disease progresses from early stage 1 to early stage 2 can be stratified using IA2 antibodies, the 90-minute OGTT glucose value, and the HbA1c value. With regard to progression to clinical type 1 diabetes (stage 3), it was observed that the progression risk for the FR1DA children was similar to that of international birth cohorts with increased genetic risk. “Of course, there is still no 20-year follow-up like for BABYDIAB, DIPP, and DAISY, but as of yet, the progression rate is practically identical,” said Dr. Ziegler.
 

Dubious benefits?

The advantages of screening for type 1 diabetes would not be limited to potential access to preventive therapies and a smooth transition to insulin therapy at the correct point in time, according to Dr. Ziegler. Participation in the FR1DA study dramatically reduced the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Between 2015 and 2023, the overall rate of ketoacidosis associated with the manifestation of clinical type 1 diabetes was 4.3%. In contrast, the general DKA rate in Germany has remained largely unchanged for the last 2 decades at between 20% and 25%.

In addition, the FR1DA children exhibited better beta cell function and better metabolic function at clinical diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. This finding was observed in a comparison with children with a spontaneous diabetes diagnosis from the DiMelli study. “It is important that there is a lot of data that shows how, in the long term, this is associated with a better morbidity and mortality,” said Dr. Ziegler.

Despite the impressive data from the FR1DA study, not all diabetes experts are convinced that a general screening for type 1 diabetes would be beneficial. Beate Karges, MD, PhD, of the Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine of the Bethlehem Hospital Stolberg (Germany) and the endocrinology and diabetology department at the University Hospital Aachen (Germany), stressed, “Screening makes sense if the disease is curable in the preclinical phase or if there is a significantly better prognosis in the event of early diagnosis and treatment.”
 

Severe side effects

Even with an early-stage diagnosis, curing type 1 diabetes is impossible. The new anti-CD3 antibody teplizumab merely delays the manifestation of symptoms for 3 years. However, this delay has its price. The summary of product characteristics for teplizumab contains warnings of severe lymphopenia lasting many weeks, cytokine release syndrome, severe infections, and hypersensitivity reactions. Furthermore, vaccinations may not be administered during teplizumab treatment and therefore must be completed in advance.

“Preventing type 1 diabetes is still not possible, we can only delay it, and the long-term efficacy and safety of this immunotherapy are not clear,” said Dr. Karges. She added that a significant reduction in the DKA rate – as observed in the FR1DA study – may be possible even without screening. This possibility was demonstrated by a model project in Stuttgart, Germany, in which the DKA rate was significantly reduced through education alone.
 

Education reduces ketoacidosis

“The families were given information about the early signs of type 1 diabetes during the education investigation. Through this [education], a reduction in the ketoacidosis rate from 28% to 16% was achieved,” said Dr. Karges. It is also known from studies of familial type 1 diabetes that secondary sufferers in the family only exhibit a DKA rate of 7%. “Through education within the family and awareness campaigns, the DKA rate can be reduced by 40%-65%,” said Dr. Karges.

Dr. Karges also doubts whether starting insulin therapy earlier “at the correct point in time” elicits long-term advantages. Secondary sufferers with familial type 1 diabetes have better HbA1c values in the first few years after diagnosis. “But as they progress beyond 2, towards 10 years, the difference in HbA1c values diminishes,” said Dr. Karges.

Whether the patient has DKA at type 1 diabetes diagnosis also seems to make little difference in the long term. “There is also no difference in the HbA1c value in the 2-10 years after diagnosis,” said Dr. Karges. “Glycemic control is not permanently improved in the event that treatment is started early,” she concluded.

“Type 1 diabetes can be delayed with an immune intervention, but to do so, we must also accept possible severe side effects in an otherwise healthy child,” she said. On the other hand, type 1 diabetes can be treated well. “With pumps and continuous glucose monitoring, insulin therapy in children and adolescents has become significantly safer and more effective,” she said.
 

New therapeutic options

Whether voluntary screening for type 1 diabetes eventually finds its way into standard care depends on the further development of preventive medications. Dr. Ziegler stressed that future preventive therapy does not need to be limited to the anti-CD3 antibody teplizumab.

For example, strategies such as high-dose oral insulin therapy are being investigated. Verapamil, which is used to treat hypertension, is also promising, since with it, beta cells were retained in early stage 3, and it improved their function. The fusion protein abatacept fell short of statistical significance in a recently published study. For Dr. Ziegler, one thing remains true. “The therapy of type 1 diabetes is about to undergo a renaissance.”

This article was translated from the Medscape German Edition. A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

After 100 years of insulin therapy, teplizumab, an immunotherapy for early-stage type 1 diabetes, has been approved for the first time in the United States and has been shown to delay the manifestation of clinical diabetes by 3 years on average. As a prerequisite for the use of the anti-CD3 antibody teplizumab, patients must undergo a general screening for type 1 diabetes. Whether this prerequisite makes sense was the subject of hot debate among experts at the Diabetes Congress in Berlin.

Anette-Gabriele Ziegler, MD, PhD, director of the Institute for Diabetes Research in Helmholtz Munich, argued that voluntary screening for type 1 diabetes should be included in standard care. “The first immunotherapy that delays type 1 diabetes has been approved in the U.S. for early stage 2. And this early stage can only be identified through prior screening, since no symptoms have manifested by this stage,” she said. This is the only way in which as many people as possible, particularly children, will benefit from the disease-delaying therapy, she added.
 

Two autoantibodies

One biomarker for the early diagnosis of type 1 diabetes is evidence of at least two positive islet cell antibodies. In one study of more than 13,000 children who were observed for 20 years, the specificity of these antibodies was 100%. “Every single child with a positive autoantibody test developed type 1 diabetes later on in their life,” Dr. Ziegler said. “Based on the results of this study, the early stages of type 1 diabetes were added to multiple guidelines.”

The early stage of type 1 diabetes is divided into the following three phases, depending on autoantibody detection and the level of glucose metabolism:

• Early stage 1: Two or more islet autoantibodies and normoglycemia.
• Early stage 2: Two or more islet autoantibodies and dysglycemia.
• Early stage 3: Symptoms, hyperglycemia, insulin therapy.

The aim of the ongoing FR1DA study is to ascertain whether the general population could also be screened for type 1 diabetes using this autoantibody. “Since 2015, children of kindergarten and school age have undergone screening, and to date, more than 170,000 have been tested,” said Dr. Ziegler. “At least two autoantibodies were detected in 0.3% of those screened.”
 

Education and care

The families of the children in whom early-stage type 1 diabetes was diagnosed were invited to take an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), to undergo measurement of hemoglobin A1c, and to take part in training and monitoring. “Education and competent, ongoing care are crucial for the efficacy of the screening,” Dr. Ziegler emphasized.

The OGTT revealed that 85% of the FR1DA children were still in early stage 1, another 11% were in early stage 2, and the remaining 4% were in early stage 3.

“Unfortunately, the 4% could no longer benefit from teplizumab, since the medication is not approved for manifest diabetes,” said Dr. Ziegler. “However, the 11% could receive teplizumab immediately, and then later on, the 85%, when they developed stage 2. Therefore, further observation of the children is also important.”

The speed at which the disease progresses from early stage 1 to early stage 2 can be stratified using IA2 antibodies, the 90-minute OGTT glucose value, and the HbA1c value. With regard to progression to clinical type 1 diabetes (stage 3), it was observed that the progression risk for the FR1DA children was similar to that of international birth cohorts with increased genetic risk. “Of course, there is still no 20-year follow-up like for BABYDIAB, DIPP, and DAISY, but as of yet, the progression rate is practically identical,” said Dr. Ziegler.
 

Dubious benefits?

The advantages of screening for type 1 diabetes would not be limited to potential access to preventive therapies and a smooth transition to insulin therapy at the correct point in time, according to Dr. Ziegler. Participation in the FR1DA study dramatically reduced the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Between 2015 and 2023, the overall rate of ketoacidosis associated with the manifestation of clinical type 1 diabetes was 4.3%. In contrast, the general DKA rate in Germany has remained largely unchanged for the last 2 decades at between 20% and 25%.

In addition, the FR1DA children exhibited better beta cell function and better metabolic function at clinical diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. This finding was observed in a comparison with children with a spontaneous diabetes diagnosis from the DiMelli study. “It is important that there is a lot of data that shows how, in the long term, this is associated with a better morbidity and mortality,” said Dr. Ziegler.

Despite the impressive data from the FR1DA study, not all diabetes experts are convinced that a general screening for type 1 diabetes would be beneficial. Beate Karges, MD, PhD, of the Clinic for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine of the Bethlehem Hospital Stolberg (Germany) and the endocrinology and diabetology department at the University Hospital Aachen (Germany), stressed, “Screening makes sense if the disease is curable in the preclinical phase or if there is a significantly better prognosis in the event of early diagnosis and treatment.”
 

Severe side effects

Even with an early-stage diagnosis, curing type 1 diabetes is impossible. The new anti-CD3 antibody teplizumab merely delays the manifestation of symptoms for 3 years. However, this delay has its price. The summary of product characteristics for teplizumab contains warnings of severe lymphopenia lasting many weeks, cytokine release syndrome, severe infections, and hypersensitivity reactions. Furthermore, vaccinations may not be administered during teplizumab treatment and therefore must be completed in advance.

“Preventing type 1 diabetes is still not possible, we can only delay it, and the long-term efficacy and safety of this immunotherapy are not clear,” said Dr. Karges. She added that a significant reduction in the DKA rate – as observed in the FR1DA study – may be possible even without screening. This possibility was demonstrated by a model project in Stuttgart, Germany, in which the DKA rate was significantly reduced through education alone.
 

Education reduces ketoacidosis

“The families were given information about the early signs of type 1 diabetes during the education investigation. Through this [education], a reduction in the ketoacidosis rate from 28% to 16% was achieved,” said Dr. Karges. It is also known from studies of familial type 1 diabetes that secondary sufferers in the family only exhibit a DKA rate of 7%. “Through education within the family and awareness campaigns, the DKA rate can be reduced by 40%-65%,” said Dr. Karges.

Dr. Karges also doubts whether starting insulin therapy earlier “at the correct point in time” elicits long-term advantages. Secondary sufferers with familial type 1 diabetes have better HbA1c values in the first few years after diagnosis. “But as they progress beyond 2, towards 10 years, the difference in HbA1c values diminishes,” said Dr. Karges.

Whether the patient has DKA at type 1 diabetes diagnosis also seems to make little difference in the long term. “There is also no difference in the HbA1c value in the 2-10 years after diagnosis,” said Dr. Karges. “Glycemic control is not permanently improved in the event that treatment is started early,” she concluded.

“Type 1 diabetes can be delayed with an immune intervention, but to do so, we must also accept possible severe side effects in an otherwise healthy child,” she said. On the other hand, type 1 diabetes can be treated well. “With pumps and continuous glucose monitoring, insulin therapy in children and adolescents has become significantly safer and more effective,” she said.
 

New therapeutic options

Whether voluntary screening for type 1 diabetes eventually finds its way into standard care depends on the further development of preventive medications. Dr. Ziegler stressed that future preventive therapy does not need to be limited to the anti-CD3 antibody teplizumab.

For example, strategies such as high-dose oral insulin therapy are being investigated. Verapamil, which is used to treat hypertension, is also promising, since with it, beta cells were retained in early stage 3, and it improved their function. The fusion protein abatacept fell short of statistical significance in a recently published study. For Dr. Ziegler, one thing remains true. “The therapy of type 1 diabetes is about to undergo a renaissance.”

This article was translated from the Medscape German Edition. A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

Although we continue to hear a chorus of cautions from the wise folks in the public health community, most of us and our political leaders have allowed the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to slip quietly into the dark recesses of our been-there-done-that pile. Obviously, this failure to continue learning from our mistakes is an oversight for which we will pay dearly the next time a public health crisis requiring a coordinated effort on a national and international scale raises its ugly head.

However, there is a significant portion of the population for whom the pandemic is fresh in their minds because they are experiencing the symptoms of what they have been told is long COVID. In January 2023 the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 15% of the U.S. population feels that at some point they have experienced the symptoms of long COVID. And 6% report that they believe they currently have long COVID.

As long ago as February of 2021, Congress gave the National Institutes of Health $1.5 billion to fund a 4-year study of the prolonged health consequence of SARS-CoV-2. Sadly, 2 years into the study we aren’t too much further along in our search for answers. The Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 has earned an acronym, PASC, but it continues to be little more than a laundry list of vague symptoms including shortness of breath, fatigue, fever, headaches, “brain fog,” and a variety of other neurologic problems. We seem to have slipped into the same trap we find ourselves in with conditions such as chronic Lyme disease and chronic fatigue syndrome that lack workable diagnostic criteria.

However, I have just stumbled across a study in the JAMA Network Open that hints at a partial answer. Using data collected from a prospective study of nurses, investigators based at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard found that adherence to healthy sleep prior to infection with COVID was inversely related to PCC, or Post COVID Condition, their chosen acronym for long COVID.

After taking into account a long list of covariants, the investigators found that women with consistently healthy sleep before and after their infection had the lowest risk of PCC when compared with women with consistently unhealthy sleep.

This finding seems to be telling us is that we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that folks who were relatively less healthy prior to contracting COVID are more likely to report feeling unhealthy after the acute phase of the illness has passed. It is unclear whether this observation is because their suboptimal health prior to the infection made them more vulnerable to its aftereffects or whether this is a return to their baseline for which we have labeled long COVID.

The results of this study are particularly important because it highlights our continued failure to acknowledge the critical role of sleep in the entire wellness picture. The broader message is of equal importance and that is when we are trying to discover what is making our patients sick, we must adhere to our traditional practice of taking a good and thorough history. When a patient asks the surgeon whether he will be able to play the violin after surgery, the prudent physician will always ask whether the patient has ever played the instrument.

As with any good study, it leaves more questions than it answers. While this study addresses the vague and neurologically based symptoms of long COVID, many of which are known symptoms associated with sleep deprivation, it doesn’t address the patients with more organically based symptoms such as those who have pulmonary or renal damage acquired during the acute phase of the illness. Many of these unfortunate individuals may have entered the pandemic with already damaged or vulnerable organ systems.

Finally, it leaves a very interesting question unanswered: Can we help the long COVID patients suffering with primarily neurologic symptoms by aggressively managing their preexisting unhealthy sleep habits? Or, has the damage already been done? I suspect and certainly hope it is the former.
 

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Other than a Littman stethoscope he accepted as a first-year medical student in 1966, Dr. Wilkoff reports having nothing to disclose. Email him at [email protected].

Although we continue to hear a chorus of cautions from the wise folks in the public health community, most of us and our political leaders have allowed the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to slip quietly into the dark recesses of our been-there-done-that pile. Obviously, this failure to continue learning from our mistakes is an oversight for which we will pay dearly the next time a public health crisis requiring a coordinated effort on a national and international scale raises its ugly head.

However, there is a significant portion of the population for whom the pandemic is fresh in their minds because they are experiencing the symptoms of what they have been told is long COVID. In January 2023 the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 15% of the U.S. population feels that at some point they have experienced the symptoms of long COVID. And 6% report that they believe they currently have long COVID.

As long ago as February of 2021, Congress gave the National Institutes of Health $1.5 billion to fund a 4-year study of the prolonged health consequence of SARS-CoV-2. Sadly, 2 years into the study we aren’t too much further along in our search for answers. The Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 has earned an acronym, PASC, but it continues to be little more than a laundry list of vague symptoms including shortness of breath, fatigue, fever, headaches, “brain fog,” and a variety of other neurologic problems. We seem to have slipped into the same trap we find ourselves in with conditions such as chronic Lyme disease and chronic fatigue syndrome that lack workable diagnostic criteria.

However, I have just stumbled across a study in the JAMA Network Open that hints at a partial answer. Using data collected from a prospective study of nurses, investigators based at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard found that adherence to healthy sleep prior to infection with COVID was inversely related to PCC, or Post COVID Condition, their chosen acronym for long COVID.

After taking into account a long list of covariants, the investigators found that women with consistently healthy sleep before and after their infection had the lowest risk of PCC when compared with women with consistently unhealthy sleep.

This finding seems to be telling us is that we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that folks who were relatively less healthy prior to contracting COVID are more likely to report feeling unhealthy after the acute phase of the illness has passed. It is unclear whether this observation is because their suboptimal health prior to the infection made them more vulnerable to its aftereffects or whether this is a return to their baseline for which we have labeled long COVID.

The results of this study are particularly important because it highlights our continued failure to acknowledge the critical role of sleep in the entire wellness picture. The broader message is of equal importance and that is when we are trying to discover what is making our patients sick, we must adhere to our traditional practice of taking a good and thorough history. When a patient asks the surgeon whether he will be able to play the violin after surgery, the prudent physician will always ask whether the patient has ever played the instrument.

As with any good study, it leaves more questions than it answers. While this study addresses the vague and neurologically based symptoms of long COVID, many of which are known symptoms associated with sleep deprivation, it doesn’t address the patients with more organically based symptoms such as those who have pulmonary or renal damage acquired during the acute phase of the illness. Many of these unfortunate individuals may have entered the pandemic with already damaged or vulnerable organ systems.

Finally, it leaves a very interesting question unanswered: Can we help the long COVID patients suffering with primarily neurologic symptoms by aggressively managing their preexisting unhealthy sleep habits? Or, has the damage already been done? I suspect and certainly hope it is the former.
 

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Other than a Littman stethoscope he accepted as a first-year medical student in 1966, Dr. Wilkoff reports having nothing to disclose. Email him at [email protected].

Although we continue to hear a chorus of cautions from the wise folks in the public health community, most of us and our political leaders have allowed the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to slip quietly into the dark recesses of our been-there-done-that pile. Obviously, this failure to continue learning from our mistakes is an oversight for which we will pay dearly the next time a public health crisis requiring a coordinated effort on a national and international scale raises its ugly head.

However, there is a significant portion of the population for whom the pandemic is fresh in their minds because they are experiencing the symptoms of what they have been told is long COVID. In January 2023 the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 15% of the U.S. population feels that at some point they have experienced the symptoms of long COVID. And 6% report that they believe they currently have long COVID.

As long ago as February of 2021, Congress gave the National Institutes of Health $1.5 billion to fund a 4-year study of the prolonged health consequence of SARS-CoV-2. Sadly, 2 years into the study we aren’t too much further along in our search for answers. The Post Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 has earned an acronym, PASC, but it continues to be little more than a laundry list of vague symptoms including shortness of breath, fatigue, fever, headaches, “brain fog,” and a variety of other neurologic problems. We seem to have slipped into the same trap we find ourselves in with conditions such as chronic Lyme disease and chronic fatigue syndrome that lack workable diagnostic criteria.

However, I have just stumbled across a study in the JAMA Network Open that hints at a partial answer. Using data collected from a prospective study of nurses, investigators based at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard found that adherence to healthy sleep prior to infection with COVID was inversely related to PCC, or Post COVID Condition, their chosen acronym for long COVID.

After taking into account a long list of covariants, the investigators found that women with consistently healthy sleep before and after their infection had the lowest risk of PCC when compared with women with consistently unhealthy sleep.

This finding seems to be telling us is that we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that folks who were relatively less healthy prior to contracting COVID are more likely to report feeling unhealthy after the acute phase of the illness has passed. It is unclear whether this observation is because their suboptimal health prior to the infection made them more vulnerable to its aftereffects or whether this is a return to their baseline for which we have labeled long COVID.

The results of this study are particularly important because it highlights our continued failure to acknowledge the critical role of sleep in the entire wellness picture. The broader message is of equal importance and that is when we are trying to discover what is making our patients sick, we must adhere to our traditional practice of taking a good and thorough history. When a patient asks the surgeon whether he will be able to play the violin after surgery, the prudent physician will always ask whether the patient has ever played the instrument.

As with any good study, it leaves more questions than it answers. While this study addresses the vague and neurologically based symptoms of long COVID, many of which are known symptoms associated with sleep deprivation, it doesn’t address the patients with more organically based symptoms such as those who have pulmonary or renal damage acquired during the acute phase of the illness. Many of these unfortunate individuals may have entered the pandemic with already damaged or vulnerable organ systems.

Finally, it leaves a very interesting question unanswered: Can we help the long COVID patients suffering with primarily neurologic symptoms by aggressively managing their preexisting unhealthy sleep habits? Or, has the damage already been done? I suspect and certainly hope it is the former.
 

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Other than a Littman stethoscope he accepted as a first-year medical student in 1966, Dr. Wilkoff reports having nothing to disclose. Email him at [email protected].

WakeMed emergency department physician and medical director, Graham Snyder, MD, has seen his fair share of deaths: an average of one or two per day. That’s part of the job. Some of the deaths were the result of risky behavior, ongoing health problems, and other natural causes.

But what he didn’t find acceptable was losing a 6-year-old girl in a backyard pool drowning at what was meant to be a celebratory birthday party and family reunion.

“There were aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and cousins, and the pool was packed, and they’re having a great time. One of the parents looked over and saw that she was swimming around underneath but acting weird. A relative pulled her up by the arm, and she was dead,” he said. “What nobody could tell me, and what they’ll live with the rest of their life, is how long was she under water?”

So Dr. Snyder invented a solution. The catch: He’s among an interesting set of doctors whose side gigs are solving critical problems affecting patients where they live. These are not medical devices for clinical use. They’re innovative products that everyday folks can use to make their lives safer and healthier. The goal: Improving systemic and “unsolvable” issues that harm society.

The cool part: Any MD with an idea can get in on the game.
 

Keeping little heads above water

Drowning is the leading cause of death in young children ages 1-4 years, and the second leading cause for children ages 5-14 years. The issue, Dr. Snyder explained, is not that rescuers couldn’t get to these children in time. “It’s that nobody knew to start looking.”

Dr. Snyder created a collar that alerts those around the swimmer that they are in trouble. The SEAL SwimSafe drowning prevention technology sets off an alarm system if a child is under water for too long. The necklace has been used to protect more than 10,000 children, including at larger swim facilities, such as the YMCA. 

When Dr. Snyder first started pursuing his invention, he asked himself two key questions: “Has someone already tried this? And if they did, why did they not succeed?” These questions help counteract the potential arrogance, he says, with imagining that you are the first person to have a certain idea. And using whatever reason others didn’t succeed as your “secret sauce” helps lead to more success. He also had to consider obstacles. People might resist wearing a collar or necklace while swimming or putting one on their child, like the reluctance around wearing bicycle helmets when they gained popularity in the 1980s. He concluded that the collars would work best at larger facilities, where they were mandated.

Another obstacle was false alarms. “It was possible to trigger a false alarm, and that could really scare people,” Dr. Snyder said. He is still considering systems to prevent the collars from being stolen or from “13-year-old boys hiding them in the water drain and making everyone really scared when an alarm is going off.”

The demand is real, however, and is based on alarming data. Safe Kids has reported that 66% of natural water drownings and around half of pool drownings happened with an adult supervising. They added, however, that supervision is often lacking or insufficient, such as a parent not being within arm’s reach of a young kid. As Dr. Snyder told reporters in a 2018 story, even the most well-intentioned parents still “miss something” sometimes, and this technology is for that moment.

“This is a completely solvable problem, but not a flip-a-switch, one and done,” he said, pointing to his product as a part of a more comprehensive approach, such as in Europe, where mandated public school swimming lessons are helping to decrease drowning deaths.

The pandemic slowed progress for the SEAL SwimSafe collar, which is currently waiting on a new funder or investor to take the reins. But the concept is alive and well with competitors pursuing related ideas. Dr. Snyder is holding out hope that entrepreneurs, scientists, public health workers, researchers, and others will be interested in continuing this work.
 

Eliminating the stigma of incontinence

Ever had an accident before making it to the bathroom? So have two-thirds of adult women, and almost one-third of older men. Incontinence is linked to a wide variety of conditions, from pelvic-floor trauma to neurological issues to diabetes, and others. Urologist Jessica Lubahn, MD, in Portland, Ore., saw one too many patients feeling this type of shame, unaware that the condition was so common. In addition, she personally experienced childbirth-related incontinence, and helped a relative who was having incontinence after prostate cancer surgery.

“He had a great result, but he had confided in me ... it was one of the only times in his life that he’s been truly depressed,” Dr. Lubahn said. “It’s not even the amount of leakage, but the smell, the stigma is so embarrassing, that not only is it an inconvenience, but [it affects] your entire psyche.” She thought there had to be a better solution than the “demeaning” act of wearing adult diapers.

Noting the explosion of the period panty industry in the past decade, Dr. Lubahn wanted to “destigmatize” incontinence in the same way menstruation education and products have been. She created ONDR incontinence underwear, specifically meant for urine, to ease the mental and physical burden on her patients and many others.

Dr. Lubahn said a process happens when you decide to start talking about the product you want to make rather than trying to find answers on your own. “A lot of people are so afraid to talk about their ideas because they’re afraid it’s going to get stolen or scooped, or it might fail,” she said. “I just openly discussed it, kind of like cocktail party conversation – ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if you just pee into your underwear?’ ” She noticed each connection led to finding more people to help her along her journey.

Dr. Lubahn studied the apparel industry, learning that overseas manufacturers were more helpful and cost-effective. She navigated issues such as a special stitch that prevented leakage and other details. She was also intent on using eco-friendly products that offset the environmental impact of pads, liners, and diapers. She said there’s a strong entrepreneurship community that can help other physician-inventors get grants, be part of accelerator programs, and receive support.

Six years after the original idea, Dr. Lubahn’s product was released in 2020. She now sells eight types of underwear for women and men’s boxer briefs. She wears them herself daily.
 

Deterring carjackers, saving lives

In 2022, carjackings tripled in Chicago and Memphis. The areas have the highest rates in 30 cities that the Council on Criminal Justice analyzed in a report on pandemic crime rates. According to the report, nearly 40% of offenders used a firearm, more than a quarter of victims were injured, and only around half of the vehicles taken were recovered. In addition, vehicles are sometimes used in secondary crimes, such as drive-by shootings. William Yates, MD, former trauma surgeon, now turned hair restoration surgeon in Chicago, saw the evidence of those crimes daily.

“I was perplexed by carjacking because there wasn’t any answer, and it just kept getting worse and worse. A lot of innocent people were being affected,” he said. “I was seeing deaths – needless. If you give them any push back at all, they will shoot you.”

As a deterrent to counter this “easy crime,” he invented the Yates Device, an alarm system designed to prevent or interrupt carjacking. The driver can activate a switch located beneath the foot pedal or an app on the phone to trigger a programmed high-decibel alarm. Critically, it allows the carjacker to drive a safe distance away from the victim before it starts going off.

The alarm “turns your car into a very noisy Christmas tree on a time delay,” Dr. Yates explained. An external siren blares “stolen vehicle” repeatedly. A camera records everything in the car. Lights flash. Only the original driver can turn off the system. Later, once the car is abandoned, the police can help recover the vehicle.

In Dr. Yates’ experience, the invention process takes longer than you think. He worked through earlier iterations with strobe lights, but these could lead to bystanders getting hurt if the carjacker couldn’t see, for example. Developing the final product and applying for patents was a two-part process.

“The first is part is a pending patent phase, which secures your place in line,” he said. “After 1 year, we filed the utility patent as the final documentation that the invention is truly unique. That has been in process for a year now and the attorneys say we should receive approval soon.”

The product has initially been tested in seven cars for about 1 year. Dr. Yates is measuring how the system performs in all types of weather, including Chicago’s below-zero temperatures. The product is not available to the public for purchase yet because Dr. Yates is still seeking funding to have it mass produced, but it is currently being evaluated by Korean automakers for their car manufacturers.

“Everybody was saying ‘Let’s do something about this,’ but I didn’t see anybody doing anything yet,” Dr. Yates recalled. In the surgeon’s lounge, everybody has ideas. “You go around the room, and every doctor would have five ideas that would make them the richest doctor, but nobody takes it beyond that stage – talk. You have to synthesize that into a plan, to take action.”

Dr. Yates said that many doctors have the intellect to invent, but they aren’t in a network like entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life.

For Dr. Yates, it takes a curious mindset to solve these daunting problems. “I’m always curious, always looking for how to improve something, to get better outcomes you have to be asking questions and just never let it go.”
 

A version of this article originally appeared on Medscape.com.

WakeMed emergency department physician and medical director, Graham Snyder, MD, has seen his fair share of deaths: an average of one or two per day. That’s part of the job. Some of the deaths were the result of risky behavior, ongoing health problems, and other natural causes.

But what he didn’t find acceptable was losing a 6-year-old girl in a backyard pool drowning at what was meant to be a celebratory birthday party and family reunion.

“There were aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and cousins, and the pool was packed, and they’re having a great time. One of the parents looked over and saw that she was swimming around underneath but acting weird. A relative pulled her up by the arm, and she was dead,” he said. “What nobody could tell me, and what they’ll live with the rest of their life, is how long was she under water?”

So Dr. Snyder invented a solution. The catch: He’s among an interesting set of doctors whose side gigs are solving critical problems affecting patients where they live. These are not medical devices for clinical use. They’re innovative products that everyday folks can use to make their lives safer and healthier. The goal: Improving systemic and “unsolvable” issues that harm society.

The cool part: Any MD with an idea can get in on the game.
 

Keeping little heads above water

Drowning is the leading cause of death in young children ages 1-4 years, and the second leading cause for children ages 5-14 years. The issue, Dr. Snyder explained, is not that rescuers couldn’t get to these children in time. “It’s that nobody knew to start looking.”

Dr. Snyder created a collar that alerts those around the swimmer that they are in trouble. The SEAL SwimSafe drowning prevention technology sets off an alarm system if a child is under water for too long. The necklace has been used to protect more than 10,000 children, including at larger swim facilities, such as the YMCA. 

When Dr. Snyder first started pursuing his invention, he asked himself two key questions: “Has someone already tried this? And if they did, why did they not succeed?” These questions help counteract the potential arrogance, he says, with imagining that you are the first person to have a certain idea. And using whatever reason others didn’t succeed as your “secret sauce” helps lead to more success. He also had to consider obstacles. People might resist wearing a collar or necklace while swimming or putting one on their child, like the reluctance around wearing bicycle helmets when they gained popularity in the 1980s. He concluded that the collars would work best at larger facilities, where they were mandated.

Another obstacle was false alarms. “It was possible to trigger a false alarm, and that could really scare people,” Dr. Snyder said. He is still considering systems to prevent the collars from being stolen or from “13-year-old boys hiding them in the water drain and making everyone really scared when an alarm is going off.”

The demand is real, however, and is based on alarming data. Safe Kids has reported that 66% of natural water drownings and around half of pool drownings happened with an adult supervising. They added, however, that supervision is often lacking or insufficient, such as a parent not being within arm’s reach of a young kid. As Dr. Snyder told reporters in a 2018 story, even the most well-intentioned parents still “miss something” sometimes, and this technology is for that moment.

“This is a completely solvable problem, but not a flip-a-switch, one and done,” he said, pointing to his product as a part of a more comprehensive approach, such as in Europe, where mandated public school swimming lessons are helping to decrease drowning deaths.

The pandemic slowed progress for the SEAL SwimSafe collar, which is currently waiting on a new funder or investor to take the reins. But the concept is alive and well with competitors pursuing related ideas. Dr. Snyder is holding out hope that entrepreneurs, scientists, public health workers, researchers, and others will be interested in continuing this work.
 

Eliminating the stigma of incontinence

Ever had an accident before making it to the bathroom? So have two-thirds of adult women, and almost one-third of older men. Incontinence is linked to a wide variety of conditions, from pelvic-floor trauma to neurological issues to diabetes, and others. Urologist Jessica Lubahn, MD, in Portland, Ore., saw one too many patients feeling this type of shame, unaware that the condition was so common. In addition, she personally experienced childbirth-related incontinence, and helped a relative who was having incontinence after prostate cancer surgery.

“He had a great result, but he had confided in me ... it was one of the only times in his life that he’s been truly depressed,” Dr. Lubahn said. “It’s not even the amount of leakage, but the smell, the stigma is so embarrassing, that not only is it an inconvenience, but [it affects] your entire psyche.” She thought there had to be a better solution than the “demeaning” act of wearing adult diapers.

Noting the explosion of the period panty industry in the past decade, Dr. Lubahn wanted to “destigmatize” incontinence in the same way menstruation education and products have been. She created ONDR incontinence underwear, specifically meant for urine, to ease the mental and physical burden on her patients and many others.

Dr. Lubahn said a process happens when you decide to start talking about the product you want to make rather than trying to find answers on your own. “A lot of people are so afraid to talk about their ideas because they’re afraid it’s going to get stolen or scooped, or it might fail,” she said. “I just openly discussed it, kind of like cocktail party conversation – ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if you just pee into your underwear?’ ” She noticed each connection led to finding more people to help her along her journey.

Dr. Lubahn studied the apparel industry, learning that overseas manufacturers were more helpful and cost-effective. She navigated issues such as a special stitch that prevented leakage and other details. She was also intent on using eco-friendly products that offset the environmental impact of pads, liners, and diapers. She said there’s a strong entrepreneurship community that can help other physician-inventors get grants, be part of accelerator programs, and receive support.

Six years after the original idea, Dr. Lubahn’s product was released in 2020. She now sells eight types of underwear for women and men’s boxer briefs. She wears them herself daily.
 

Deterring carjackers, saving lives

In 2022, carjackings tripled in Chicago and Memphis. The areas have the highest rates in 30 cities that the Council on Criminal Justice analyzed in a report on pandemic crime rates. According to the report, nearly 40% of offenders used a firearm, more than a quarter of victims were injured, and only around half of the vehicles taken were recovered. In addition, vehicles are sometimes used in secondary crimes, such as drive-by shootings. William Yates, MD, former trauma surgeon, now turned hair restoration surgeon in Chicago, saw the evidence of those crimes daily.

“I was perplexed by carjacking because there wasn’t any answer, and it just kept getting worse and worse. A lot of innocent people were being affected,” he said. “I was seeing deaths – needless. If you give them any push back at all, they will shoot you.”

As a deterrent to counter this “easy crime,” he invented the Yates Device, an alarm system designed to prevent or interrupt carjacking. The driver can activate a switch located beneath the foot pedal or an app on the phone to trigger a programmed high-decibel alarm. Critically, it allows the carjacker to drive a safe distance away from the victim before it starts going off.

The alarm “turns your car into a very noisy Christmas tree on a time delay,” Dr. Yates explained. An external siren blares “stolen vehicle” repeatedly. A camera records everything in the car. Lights flash. Only the original driver can turn off the system. Later, once the car is abandoned, the police can help recover the vehicle.

In Dr. Yates’ experience, the invention process takes longer than you think. He worked through earlier iterations with strobe lights, but these could lead to bystanders getting hurt if the carjacker couldn’t see, for example. Developing the final product and applying for patents was a two-part process.

“The first is part is a pending patent phase, which secures your place in line,” he said. “After 1 year, we filed the utility patent as the final documentation that the invention is truly unique. That has been in process for a year now and the attorneys say we should receive approval soon.”

The product has initially been tested in seven cars for about 1 year. Dr. Yates is measuring how the system performs in all types of weather, including Chicago’s below-zero temperatures. The product is not available to the public for purchase yet because Dr. Yates is still seeking funding to have it mass produced, but it is currently being evaluated by Korean automakers for their car manufacturers.

“Everybody was saying ‘Let’s do something about this,’ but I didn’t see anybody doing anything yet,” Dr. Yates recalled. In the surgeon’s lounge, everybody has ideas. “You go around the room, and every doctor would have five ideas that would make them the richest doctor, but nobody takes it beyond that stage – talk. You have to synthesize that into a plan, to take action.”

Dr. Yates said that many doctors have the intellect to invent, but they aren’t in a network like entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life.

For Dr. Yates, it takes a curious mindset to solve these daunting problems. “I’m always curious, always looking for how to improve something, to get better outcomes you have to be asking questions and just never let it go.”
 

A version of this article originally appeared on Medscape.com.

WakeMed emergency department physician and medical director, Graham Snyder, MD, has seen his fair share of deaths: an average of one or two per day. That’s part of the job. Some of the deaths were the result of risky behavior, ongoing health problems, and other natural causes.

But what he didn’t find acceptable was losing a 6-year-old girl in a backyard pool drowning at what was meant to be a celebratory birthday party and family reunion.

“There were aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters and cousins, and the pool was packed, and they’re having a great time. One of the parents looked over and saw that she was swimming around underneath but acting weird. A relative pulled her up by the arm, and she was dead,” he said. “What nobody could tell me, and what they’ll live with the rest of their life, is how long was she under water?”

So Dr. Snyder invented a solution. The catch: He’s among an interesting set of doctors whose side gigs are solving critical problems affecting patients where they live. These are not medical devices for clinical use. They’re innovative products that everyday folks can use to make their lives safer and healthier. The goal: Improving systemic and “unsolvable” issues that harm society.

The cool part: Any MD with an idea can get in on the game.
 

Keeping little heads above water

Drowning is the leading cause of death in young children ages 1-4 years, and the second leading cause for children ages 5-14 years. The issue, Dr. Snyder explained, is not that rescuers couldn’t get to these children in time. “It’s that nobody knew to start looking.”

Dr. Snyder created a collar that alerts those around the swimmer that they are in trouble. The SEAL SwimSafe drowning prevention technology sets off an alarm system if a child is under water for too long. The necklace has been used to protect more than 10,000 children, including at larger swim facilities, such as the YMCA. 

When Dr. Snyder first started pursuing his invention, he asked himself two key questions: “Has someone already tried this? And if they did, why did they not succeed?” These questions help counteract the potential arrogance, he says, with imagining that you are the first person to have a certain idea. And using whatever reason others didn’t succeed as your “secret sauce” helps lead to more success. He also had to consider obstacles. People might resist wearing a collar or necklace while swimming or putting one on their child, like the reluctance around wearing bicycle helmets when they gained popularity in the 1980s. He concluded that the collars would work best at larger facilities, where they were mandated.

Another obstacle was false alarms. “It was possible to trigger a false alarm, and that could really scare people,” Dr. Snyder said. He is still considering systems to prevent the collars from being stolen or from “13-year-old boys hiding them in the water drain and making everyone really scared when an alarm is going off.”

The demand is real, however, and is based on alarming data. Safe Kids has reported that 66% of natural water drownings and around half of pool drownings happened with an adult supervising. They added, however, that supervision is often lacking or insufficient, such as a parent not being within arm’s reach of a young kid. As Dr. Snyder told reporters in a 2018 story, even the most well-intentioned parents still “miss something” sometimes, and this technology is for that moment.

“This is a completely solvable problem, but not a flip-a-switch, one and done,” he said, pointing to his product as a part of a more comprehensive approach, such as in Europe, where mandated public school swimming lessons are helping to decrease drowning deaths.

The pandemic slowed progress for the SEAL SwimSafe collar, which is currently waiting on a new funder or investor to take the reins. But the concept is alive and well with competitors pursuing related ideas. Dr. Snyder is holding out hope that entrepreneurs, scientists, public health workers, researchers, and others will be interested in continuing this work.
 

Eliminating the stigma of incontinence

Ever had an accident before making it to the bathroom? So have two-thirds of adult women, and almost one-third of older men. Incontinence is linked to a wide variety of conditions, from pelvic-floor trauma to neurological issues to diabetes, and others. Urologist Jessica Lubahn, MD, in Portland, Ore., saw one too many patients feeling this type of shame, unaware that the condition was so common. In addition, she personally experienced childbirth-related incontinence, and helped a relative who was having incontinence after prostate cancer surgery.

“He had a great result, but he had confided in me ... it was one of the only times in his life that he’s been truly depressed,” Dr. Lubahn said. “It’s not even the amount of leakage, but the smell, the stigma is so embarrassing, that not only is it an inconvenience, but [it affects] your entire psyche.” She thought there had to be a better solution than the “demeaning” act of wearing adult diapers.

Noting the explosion of the period panty industry in the past decade, Dr. Lubahn wanted to “destigmatize” incontinence in the same way menstruation education and products have been. She created ONDR incontinence underwear, specifically meant for urine, to ease the mental and physical burden on her patients and many others.

Dr. Lubahn said a process happens when you decide to start talking about the product you want to make rather than trying to find answers on your own. “A lot of people are so afraid to talk about their ideas because they’re afraid it’s going to get stolen or scooped, or it might fail,” she said. “I just openly discussed it, kind of like cocktail party conversation – ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if you just pee into your underwear?’ ” She noticed each connection led to finding more people to help her along her journey.

Dr. Lubahn studied the apparel industry, learning that overseas manufacturers were more helpful and cost-effective. She navigated issues such as a special stitch that prevented leakage and other details. She was also intent on using eco-friendly products that offset the environmental impact of pads, liners, and diapers. She said there’s a strong entrepreneurship community that can help other physician-inventors get grants, be part of accelerator programs, and receive support.

Six years after the original idea, Dr. Lubahn’s product was released in 2020. She now sells eight types of underwear for women and men’s boxer briefs. She wears them herself daily.
 

Deterring carjackers, saving lives

In 2022, carjackings tripled in Chicago and Memphis. The areas have the highest rates in 30 cities that the Council on Criminal Justice analyzed in a report on pandemic crime rates. According to the report, nearly 40% of offenders used a firearm, more than a quarter of victims were injured, and only around half of the vehicles taken were recovered. In addition, vehicles are sometimes used in secondary crimes, such as drive-by shootings. William Yates, MD, former trauma surgeon, now turned hair restoration surgeon in Chicago, saw the evidence of those crimes daily.

“I was perplexed by carjacking because there wasn’t any answer, and it just kept getting worse and worse. A lot of innocent people were being affected,” he said. “I was seeing deaths – needless. If you give them any push back at all, they will shoot you.”

As a deterrent to counter this “easy crime,” he invented the Yates Device, an alarm system designed to prevent or interrupt carjacking. The driver can activate a switch located beneath the foot pedal or an app on the phone to trigger a programmed high-decibel alarm. Critically, it allows the carjacker to drive a safe distance away from the victim before it starts going off.

The alarm “turns your car into a very noisy Christmas tree on a time delay,” Dr. Yates explained. An external siren blares “stolen vehicle” repeatedly. A camera records everything in the car. Lights flash. Only the original driver can turn off the system. Later, once the car is abandoned, the police can help recover the vehicle.

In Dr. Yates’ experience, the invention process takes longer than you think. He worked through earlier iterations with strobe lights, but these could lead to bystanders getting hurt if the carjacker couldn’t see, for example. Developing the final product and applying for patents was a two-part process.

“The first is part is a pending patent phase, which secures your place in line,” he said. “After 1 year, we filed the utility patent as the final documentation that the invention is truly unique. That has been in process for a year now and the attorneys say we should receive approval soon.”

The product has initially been tested in seven cars for about 1 year. Dr. Yates is measuring how the system performs in all types of weather, including Chicago’s below-zero temperatures. The product is not available to the public for purchase yet because Dr. Yates is still seeking funding to have it mass produced, but it is currently being evaluated by Korean automakers for their car manufacturers.

“Everybody was saying ‘Let’s do something about this,’ but I didn’t see anybody doing anything yet,” Dr. Yates recalled. In the surgeon’s lounge, everybody has ideas. “You go around the room, and every doctor would have five ideas that would make them the richest doctor, but nobody takes it beyond that stage – talk. You have to synthesize that into a plan, to take action.”

Dr. Yates said that many doctors have the intellect to invent, but they aren’t in a network like entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life.

For Dr. Yates, it takes a curious mindset to solve these daunting problems. “I’m always curious, always looking for how to improve something, to get better outcomes you have to be asking questions and just never let it go.”
 

A version of this article originally appeared on Medscape.com.

State and local health officials around the country are reporting the first cases of West Nile virus of the season in humans and urging people to take action to protect themselves from the mosquito-borne disease.

In the past 2 weeks, new cases have been reported in Iowa and Nebraska, adding to previous 2023 reports from Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. A mosquito at a monitoring site near Houston tested positive last week for the potentially fatal virus, prompting local health officials to begin evening spray operations in the area where the mosquito was found, according to an announcement from Harris County Public Health.

According to the CDC, which compiles local reports, there have been 13 human cases of West Nile virus in 2023. In 2022, there were 1,126 cases, including 90 deaths. 

Among this year’s 13 cases reported to the CDC so far, eight people add severe neuroinvasive disease, which means the disease spread to the nervous system. Such severe symptoms typically occur in 1 in every 150 cases of West Nile virus and can include encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain, or meningitis, which is inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. Three of the neuroinvasive cases occurred earlier this year amid an outbreak in Maricopa County, Arizona, where the disease is considered endemic, according to an April 28 report from the CDC.

The CDC says West Nile virus is the most common disease spread by mosquitoes in the continental United States. Local health officials sample mosquitoes to guide mosquito control strategies. So far this year, the CDC has received 28 reports of mosquitoes testing positive. Those mosquito testing reports came from Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, and Texas.

West Nile virus is transmitted to people by the bite of an infected mosquito, but it can also be spread to humans if they handle a dead bird that is infected. The CDC says there are no medications to treat the virus in people. Most people who are infected do not feel sick, and 1 in 5 people infected develop a fever and other symptoms like headache, body ache, or a rash.

Prevention strategies are to wear insect repellent and to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants to avoid mosquito bites.

A version of this article originally appeared on WebMD.com.

State and local health officials around the country are reporting the first cases of West Nile virus of the season in humans and urging people to take action to protect themselves from the mosquito-borne disease.

In the past 2 weeks, new cases have been reported in Iowa and Nebraska, adding to previous 2023 reports from Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. A mosquito at a monitoring site near Houston tested positive last week for the potentially fatal virus, prompting local health officials to begin evening spray operations in the area where the mosquito was found, according to an announcement from Harris County Public Health.

According to the CDC, which compiles local reports, there have been 13 human cases of West Nile virus in 2023. In 2022, there were 1,126 cases, including 90 deaths. 

Among this year’s 13 cases reported to the CDC so far, eight people add severe neuroinvasive disease, which means the disease spread to the nervous system. Such severe symptoms typically occur in 1 in every 150 cases of West Nile virus and can include encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain, or meningitis, which is inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. Three of the neuroinvasive cases occurred earlier this year amid an outbreak in Maricopa County, Arizona, where the disease is considered endemic, according to an April 28 report from the CDC.

The CDC says West Nile virus is the most common disease spread by mosquitoes in the continental United States. Local health officials sample mosquitoes to guide mosquito control strategies. So far this year, the CDC has received 28 reports of mosquitoes testing positive. Those mosquito testing reports came from Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, and Texas.

West Nile virus is transmitted to people by the bite of an infected mosquito, but it can also be spread to humans if they handle a dead bird that is infected. The CDC says there are no medications to treat the virus in people. Most people who are infected do not feel sick, and 1 in 5 people infected develop a fever and other symptoms like headache, body ache, or a rash.

Prevention strategies are to wear insect repellent and to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants to avoid mosquito bites.

A version of this article originally appeared on WebMD.com.

State and local health officials around the country are reporting the first cases of West Nile virus of the season in humans and urging people to take action to protect themselves from the mosquito-borne disease.

In the past 2 weeks, new cases have been reported in Iowa and Nebraska, adding to previous 2023 reports from Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. A mosquito at a monitoring site near Houston tested positive last week for the potentially fatal virus, prompting local health officials to begin evening spray operations in the area where the mosquito was found, according to an announcement from Harris County Public Health.

According to the CDC, which compiles local reports, there have been 13 human cases of West Nile virus in 2023. In 2022, there were 1,126 cases, including 90 deaths. 

Among this year’s 13 cases reported to the CDC so far, eight people add severe neuroinvasive disease, which means the disease spread to the nervous system. Such severe symptoms typically occur in 1 in every 150 cases of West Nile virus and can include encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain, or meningitis, which is inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. Three of the neuroinvasive cases occurred earlier this year amid an outbreak in Maricopa County, Arizona, where the disease is considered endemic, according to an April 28 report from the CDC.

The CDC says West Nile virus is the most common disease spread by mosquitoes in the continental United States. Local health officials sample mosquitoes to guide mosquito control strategies. So far this year, the CDC has received 28 reports of mosquitoes testing positive. Those mosquito testing reports came from Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, and Texas.

West Nile virus is transmitted to people by the bite of an infected mosquito, but it can also be spread to humans if they handle a dead bird that is infected. The CDC says there are no medications to treat the virus in people. Most people who are infected do not feel sick, and 1 in 5 people infected develop a fever and other symptoms like headache, body ache, or a rash.

Prevention strategies are to wear insect repellent and to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants to avoid mosquito bites.

A version of this article originally appeared on WebMD.com.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved empagliflozin (Jardiance, Boehringer Ingelheim) and empagliflozin combined with metformin (Synjardy, BI) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in children aged 10 years and older.

This approval represents only the second oral treatment option for children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes after metformin; the latter appears to be less effective for pediatric patients than for adults.

Olivier Le Moal/Getty Images

Injectable glucagonlike peptide–1 (GLP-1) agonists are also available for youth with type 2 diabetes. These include daily liraglutide (Victoza) and once-weekly extended-release exenatide (Bydureon/Bydureon BCise).

Jardiance has been approved for adults with type 2 diabetes since 2014, and Synjardy has been approved since 2015.

“Compared to adults, children with type 2 diabetes have limited treatment options, even though the disease and symptom onset generally progress more rapidly in children,” said Michelle Carey, MD, MPH.

“Today’s approvals provide much-needed additional treatment options for children with type 2 diabetes,” added Dr. Carey, associate director for therapeutic review for the division of diabetes, lipid disorders, and obesity in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
 

Type 2 diabetes rising exponentially in children, mainly non-Whites

Type 2 diabetes is rising exponentially in children and adolescents in the United States.

Data from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study show that the incidence of type 2 diabetes among youth rose by about 5% per year between 2002 and 2015, and  it continues to rise.

A more recent study found that a doubling of cases occurred during the pandemic, with youth often presenting with more severe disease. The majority of cases are among non-White racial groups.

Safety and efficacy data for empagliflozin for children came from the Diabetes Study of Linagliptin and Empagliflozin in Children and Adolescents (DINAMO) trial. That trial included 157 patients aged 10-17 years with A1c of 7% or above. Patients were randomly assigned to receive empagliflozin 10 mg or 25 mg daily, linagliptin (a DPP-4 inhibitor) 5 mg, or placebo for 26 weeks. Over 90% were also taking metformin, 40% in combination with insulin. All patients were given diet and exercise advice.

At week 26, the children treated with empagliflozin showed an average 0.2 percentage point decrease in A1c, compared with a 0.7-point increase among those taking placebo. Use of empagliflozin was also associated with lower fasting plasma glucose levels compared with placebo.

Side effects were similar to those seen in adults except for a higher risk of hypoglycemia, regardless of other glucose-lowering therapies that were being taken.

Reduction in A1c for participants treated with linagliptin was not statistically significant in comparison with placebo. There was a numerical reduction of 0.34% (P = .2935).

“Across the lifespan, we know that people living with type 2 diabetes have a high risk for many diabetes complications, so it’s important to recognize and treat diabetes early in its course,” Lori Laffel, MD, lead investigator of the DINAMO study, said in a press release from BI.

“These findings are particularly important given the need for more therapeutic options, especially oral agents, to manage type 2 diabetes in young people as, to date, metformin [has been] the only globally available oral treatment for youth,” added Dr. Laffel, chief of the pediatric, adolescent, and young adult section at the Joslin Diabetes Center and professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Boston.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved empagliflozin (Jardiance, Boehringer Ingelheim) and empagliflozin combined with metformin (Synjardy, BI) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in children aged 10 years and older.

This approval represents only the second oral treatment option for children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes after metformin; the latter appears to be less effective for pediatric patients than for adults.

Olivier Le Moal/Getty Images

Injectable glucagonlike peptide–1 (GLP-1) agonists are also available for youth with type 2 diabetes. These include daily liraglutide (Victoza) and once-weekly extended-release exenatide (Bydureon/Bydureon BCise).

Jardiance has been approved for adults with type 2 diabetes since 2014, and Synjardy has been approved since 2015.

“Compared to adults, children with type 2 diabetes have limited treatment options, even though the disease and symptom onset generally progress more rapidly in children,” said Michelle Carey, MD, MPH.

“Today’s approvals provide much-needed additional treatment options for children with type 2 diabetes,” added Dr. Carey, associate director for therapeutic review for the division of diabetes, lipid disorders, and obesity in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
 

Type 2 diabetes rising exponentially in children, mainly non-Whites

Type 2 diabetes is rising exponentially in children and adolescents in the United States.

Data from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study show that the incidence of type 2 diabetes among youth rose by about 5% per year between 2002 and 2015, and  it continues to rise.

A more recent study found that a doubling of cases occurred during the pandemic, with youth often presenting with more severe disease. The majority of cases are among non-White racial groups.

Safety and efficacy data for empagliflozin for children came from the Diabetes Study of Linagliptin and Empagliflozin in Children and Adolescents (DINAMO) trial. That trial included 157 patients aged 10-17 years with A1c of 7% or above. Patients were randomly assigned to receive empagliflozin 10 mg or 25 mg daily, linagliptin (a DPP-4 inhibitor) 5 mg, or placebo for 26 weeks. Over 90% were also taking metformin, 40% in combination with insulin. All patients were given diet and exercise advice.

At week 26, the children treated with empagliflozin showed an average 0.2 percentage point decrease in A1c, compared with a 0.7-point increase among those taking placebo. Use of empagliflozin was also associated with lower fasting plasma glucose levels compared with placebo.

Side effects were similar to those seen in adults except for a higher risk of hypoglycemia, regardless of other glucose-lowering therapies that were being taken.

Reduction in A1c for participants treated with linagliptin was not statistically significant in comparison with placebo. There was a numerical reduction of 0.34% (P = .2935).

“Across the lifespan, we know that people living with type 2 diabetes have a high risk for many diabetes complications, so it’s important to recognize and treat diabetes early in its course,” Lori Laffel, MD, lead investigator of the DINAMO study, said in a press release from BI.

“These findings are particularly important given the need for more therapeutic options, especially oral agents, to manage type 2 diabetes in young people as, to date, metformin [has been] the only globally available oral treatment for youth,” added Dr. Laffel, chief of the pediatric, adolescent, and young adult section at the Joslin Diabetes Center and professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Boston.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved empagliflozin (Jardiance, Boehringer Ingelheim) and empagliflozin combined with metformin (Synjardy, BI) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in children aged 10 years and older.

This approval represents only the second oral treatment option for children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes after metformin; the latter appears to be less effective for pediatric patients than for adults.

Olivier Le Moal/Getty Images

Injectable glucagonlike peptide–1 (GLP-1) agonists are also available for youth with type 2 diabetes. These include daily liraglutide (Victoza) and once-weekly extended-release exenatide (Bydureon/Bydureon BCise).

Jardiance has been approved for adults with type 2 diabetes since 2014, and Synjardy has been approved since 2015.

“Compared to adults, children with type 2 diabetes have limited treatment options, even though the disease and symptom onset generally progress more rapidly in children,” said Michelle Carey, MD, MPH.

“Today’s approvals provide much-needed additional treatment options for children with type 2 diabetes,” added Dr. Carey, associate director for therapeutic review for the division of diabetes, lipid disorders, and obesity in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
 

Type 2 diabetes rising exponentially in children, mainly non-Whites

Type 2 diabetes is rising exponentially in children and adolescents in the United States.

Data from the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study show that the incidence of type 2 diabetes among youth rose by about 5% per year between 2002 and 2015, and  it continues to rise.

A more recent study found that a doubling of cases occurred during the pandemic, with youth often presenting with more severe disease. The majority of cases are among non-White racial groups.

Safety and efficacy data for empagliflozin for children came from the Diabetes Study of Linagliptin and Empagliflozin in Children and Adolescents (DINAMO) trial. That trial included 157 patients aged 10-17 years with A1c of 7% or above. Patients were randomly assigned to receive empagliflozin 10 mg or 25 mg daily, linagliptin (a DPP-4 inhibitor) 5 mg, or placebo for 26 weeks. Over 90% were also taking metformin, 40% in combination with insulin. All patients were given diet and exercise advice.

At week 26, the children treated with empagliflozin showed an average 0.2 percentage point decrease in A1c, compared with a 0.7-point increase among those taking placebo. Use of empagliflozin was also associated with lower fasting plasma glucose levels compared with placebo.

Side effects were similar to those seen in adults except for a higher risk of hypoglycemia, regardless of other glucose-lowering therapies that were being taken.

Reduction in A1c for participants treated with linagliptin was not statistically significant in comparison with placebo. There was a numerical reduction of 0.34% (P = .2935).

“Across the lifespan, we know that people living with type 2 diabetes have a high risk for many diabetes complications, so it’s important to recognize and treat diabetes early in its course,” Lori Laffel, MD, lead investigator of the DINAMO study, said in a press release from BI.

“These findings are particularly important given the need for more therapeutic options, especially oral agents, to manage type 2 diabetes in young people as, to date, metformin [has been] the only globally available oral treatment for youth,” added Dr. Laffel, chief of the pediatric, adolescent, and young adult section at the Joslin Diabetes Center and professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Boston.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Warts in children with cancer who are undergoing active treatment are particularly difficult to eradicate, new findings show.

Only a quarter of patients (24%) who were undergoing active cancer treatment experienced complete resolution of their warts, compared with 63.3% of patients who were not on active treatment.

In addition, warts persisted or worsened in 56.0% of patients receiving active treatment compared with 13.4% of those who were not receiving it.

David Carillet/Dreamstime

“These data enable providers treating warts in children with cancer to have an educated discussion regarding the expected clinical progression of warts and the likelihood of response to wart therapy while on and off anti-cancer treatment,” the authors wrote in the study, published in Pediatric Dermatology.

In immunocompromised children, warts are more common than in the general pediatric population, and more resistant to treatment. But as the authors noted, data on the course and prognosis of warts in pediatric patients who are actively receiving anti-cancer therapy compared with patients who have completed treatment are limited.

Tina Ho, MD, PhD, of the department of dermatology, and colleagues from Boston Children’s Hospital, sought to analyze the clinical course of warts treated in this patient population at their institution over a 10-year period. They conducted a retrospective study of 72 children who were treated for cancer between 2011 and 2021, and who had also been treated for warts.

The median age of the cohort was 12 years, and they were followed for a median of 2 years following their diagnosis of warts. Within this group, more than half (55%) had hematologic malignancies, while 27% had a history of bone marrow transplantation.

Of note, the authors pointed out, 54% of the patients had plantar warts, and 60% of patients (38 of 63) with a documented number of warts had more than five at the time of presentation.

The treatment regimens that the children had received varied, with 81% of patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy and 23% of patients on targeted therapies that included immunotherapy.

The warts were most commonly treated with cryotherapy and topical salicylic acid; this was the case for those actively receiving oncology treatment or those who had completed their treatment regimens.

Outcomes of wart treatments were available in 25 of the patients undergoing active cancer treatment and in 30 of those who had completed treatment. For children on active oncology treatment, 5 (20%) achieved partial resolution, 6 (24%) achieved complete resolution, and 14 (56%) experienced persistence or worsening of their warts following therapy. Those who had completed treatment had better outcomes: Seven (23.3%) had a partial response, 19 (63.3%) had complete resolution, and 4 (13.4%) had persistence or worsening of warts after treatment of warts.

The authors also pointed out the treatment of warts can be painful, expensive, and time-consuming. “It is thus imperative that the risks and benefits of these treatments are carefully considered before proceeding with treatment,” wrote Dr. Ho and colleagues. “This is especially true in medically complex children with cancer who may be fearful of procedures and spend significant portions of their young lives within the medical system.”

Limitations to the study include its retrospective design and small sample size. Clinical data were not uniformly complete, and follow-up intervals varied among the participants. Also, it was conducted at a single-institution and at a large tertiary center, so the results may not be fully generalizable.

The authors declared no conflict of interest. No outside funding source was listed.

Warts in children with cancer who are undergoing active treatment are particularly difficult to eradicate, new findings show.

Only a quarter of patients (24%) who were undergoing active cancer treatment experienced complete resolution of their warts, compared with 63.3% of patients who were not on active treatment.

In addition, warts persisted or worsened in 56.0% of patients receiving active treatment compared with 13.4% of those who were not receiving it.

David Carillet/Dreamstime

“These data enable providers treating warts in children with cancer to have an educated discussion regarding the expected clinical progression of warts and the likelihood of response to wart therapy while on and off anti-cancer treatment,” the authors wrote in the study, published in Pediatric Dermatology.

In immunocompromised children, warts are more common than in the general pediatric population, and more resistant to treatment. But as the authors noted, data on the course and prognosis of warts in pediatric patients who are actively receiving anti-cancer therapy compared with patients who have completed treatment are limited.

Tina Ho, MD, PhD, of the department of dermatology, and colleagues from Boston Children’s Hospital, sought to analyze the clinical course of warts treated in this patient population at their institution over a 10-year period. They conducted a retrospective study of 72 children who were treated for cancer between 2011 and 2021, and who had also been treated for warts.

The median age of the cohort was 12 years, and they were followed for a median of 2 years following their diagnosis of warts. Within this group, more than half (55%) had hematologic malignancies, while 27% had a history of bone marrow transplantation.

Of note, the authors pointed out, 54% of the patients had plantar warts, and 60% of patients (38 of 63) with a documented number of warts had more than five at the time of presentation.

The treatment regimens that the children had received varied, with 81% of patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy and 23% of patients on targeted therapies that included immunotherapy.

The warts were most commonly treated with cryotherapy and topical salicylic acid; this was the case for those actively receiving oncology treatment or those who had completed their treatment regimens.

Outcomes of wart treatments were available in 25 of the patients undergoing active cancer treatment and in 30 of those who had completed treatment. For children on active oncology treatment, 5 (20%) achieved partial resolution, 6 (24%) achieved complete resolution, and 14 (56%) experienced persistence or worsening of their warts following therapy. Those who had completed treatment had better outcomes: Seven (23.3%) had a partial response, 19 (63.3%) had complete resolution, and 4 (13.4%) had persistence or worsening of warts after treatment of warts.

The authors also pointed out the treatment of warts can be painful, expensive, and time-consuming. “It is thus imperative that the risks and benefits of these treatments are carefully considered before proceeding with treatment,” wrote Dr. Ho and colleagues. “This is especially true in medically complex children with cancer who may be fearful of procedures and spend significant portions of their young lives within the medical system.”

Limitations to the study include its retrospective design and small sample size. Clinical data were not uniformly complete, and follow-up intervals varied among the participants. Also, it was conducted at a single-institution and at a large tertiary center, so the results may not be fully generalizable.

The authors declared no conflict of interest. No outside funding source was listed.

Warts in children with cancer who are undergoing active treatment are particularly difficult to eradicate, new findings show.

Only a quarter of patients (24%) who were undergoing active cancer treatment experienced complete resolution of their warts, compared with 63.3% of patients who were not on active treatment.

In addition, warts persisted or worsened in 56.0% of patients receiving active treatment compared with 13.4% of those who were not receiving it.

David Carillet/Dreamstime

“These data enable providers treating warts in children with cancer to have an educated discussion regarding the expected clinical progression of warts and the likelihood of response to wart therapy while on and off anti-cancer treatment,” the authors wrote in the study, published in Pediatric Dermatology.

In immunocompromised children, warts are more common than in the general pediatric population, and more resistant to treatment. But as the authors noted, data on the course and prognosis of warts in pediatric patients who are actively receiving anti-cancer therapy compared with patients who have completed treatment are limited.

Tina Ho, MD, PhD, of the department of dermatology, and colleagues from Boston Children’s Hospital, sought to analyze the clinical course of warts treated in this patient population at their institution over a 10-year period. They conducted a retrospective study of 72 children who were treated for cancer between 2011 and 2021, and who had also been treated for warts.

The median age of the cohort was 12 years, and they were followed for a median of 2 years following their diagnosis of warts. Within this group, more than half (55%) had hematologic malignancies, while 27% had a history of bone marrow transplantation.

Of note, the authors pointed out, 54% of the patients had plantar warts, and 60% of patients (38 of 63) with a documented number of warts had more than five at the time of presentation.

The treatment regimens that the children had received varied, with 81% of patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy and 23% of patients on targeted therapies that included immunotherapy.

The warts were most commonly treated with cryotherapy and topical salicylic acid; this was the case for those actively receiving oncology treatment or those who had completed their treatment regimens.

Outcomes of wart treatments were available in 25 of the patients undergoing active cancer treatment and in 30 of those who had completed treatment. For children on active oncology treatment, 5 (20%) achieved partial resolution, 6 (24%) achieved complete resolution, and 14 (56%) experienced persistence or worsening of their warts following therapy. Those who had completed treatment had better outcomes: Seven (23.3%) had a partial response, 19 (63.3%) had complete resolution, and 4 (13.4%) had persistence or worsening of warts after treatment of warts.

The authors also pointed out the treatment of warts can be painful, expensive, and time-consuming. “It is thus imperative that the risks and benefits of these treatments are carefully considered before proceeding with treatment,” wrote Dr. Ho and colleagues. “This is especially true in medically complex children with cancer who may be fearful of procedures and spend significant portions of their young lives within the medical system.”

Limitations to the study include its retrospective design and small sample size. Clinical data were not uniformly complete, and follow-up intervals varied among the participants. Also, it was conducted at a single-institution and at a large tertiary center, so the results may not be fully generalizable.

The authors declared no conflict of interest. No outside funding source was listed.

Organ transplant recipients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) have significantly worse prognostic features compared with SCC in the general population, results from a dual cohort study demonstrated.

The findings build on previous research and underscore the need for early diagnosis and aggressive surveillance in this patient population, corresponding author Adele C. Green, MBBS, PhD, professor and senior scientist at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and colleagues wrote in the study, which was published online in JAMA Dermatology. “Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of the skin develop up to 77 times more frequently in immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients (OTRs) than the general population,” they wrote. “Because SCCs cause substantially more morbidity and death in the former, they are postulated to be innately more aggressive than in immunocompetent patients, but OTRs’ higher SCC mortality may simply reflect greater SCC tumor burdens per patient.”

In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, Dr. Green and colleagues drew data from two cohort studies to evaluate five key clinicopathologic indicators of poor SCC outcomes in organ transplant recipients, and in those from the general population in Queensland, Australia: cephalic location, perineural invasion, invasion to/beyond subcutaneous fat, poor differentiation, and tumor size greater than 20 mm. The study population included organ transplant recipients at high risk of skin cancer, who were enrolled in the Skin Tumours in Allograft Recipients (STAR) study, and those from a population-based cohort, the QSkin Sun and Health Study. STAR consisted of lung transplant recipients and kidney and liver transplant recipients at high risk of skin cancer who were recruited from tertiary centers and diagnosed with histopathologically confirmed SCC from 2012 to 2015. QSkin consisted of individuals from Queensland’s general adult population diagnosed with SCCs from 2012 to 2015.

SCC cases in QSkin were ascertained through Australia’s universal health insurance agency and linked with histopathology records. Next, the researchers performed data analysis from both cohort studies to determine the prevalence ratio (PR) of head/neck location, perineural invasion, tumor invasion to/beyond subcutaneous fat, poor cellular differentiation, and tumor diameter greater than 20 mm among SCCs among organ transplant recipients compared with the general population.

After combining the two studies, the researchers compared 741 SCCs excised from 191 organ transplant recipients and 2,558 SCCs excised from 1,507 individuals in the general population. Their median ages were similar (62.7 and 63.7 years, respectively) and most were male (78% and 63.4%, respectively).

As for site of involvement, SCCs developed most often on the head and neck in the transplant recipients (38.6%) and on the arms and hands in the general population (35.2%). After adjustment for age and sex, perineural invasion of SCCs was more than twice as common in transplant recipients than among cases in the general population, as was invasion to/beyond subcutaneous fat (PR of 2.37 for both associations).

In other findings, compared with SCCs in the general population, poorly vs. well-differentiated SCCs were more than threefold more common in transplant recipients (PR, 3.45), while the prevalence of tumors greater than 20 mm vs. 20 mm or smaller was moderately higher in transplant recipients (PR, 1.52).

“These findings are considered generalizable, confirming that OTRs’ poorer SCC outcomes are associated with not only their sheer numbers of SCC tumors, but also with a strong shift toward more invasive, less differentiated, and larger SCC tumors, in agreement with previous findings,” the researchers wrote. “This shift is likely associated with decreased immunosurveillance resulting from immunosuppressive therapy (since carcinogenesis decelerates with therapy cessation) interacting with effects of high UV radiation exposure.”

They acknowledged certain limitations of their analysis, chiefly the lack of central review of SCCs to ensure standard assessment of histopathologic features “including caliber of nerves with perineural invasion and cell differentiation; such a review would not have been feasible logistically.”

The study was supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. The researchers reported having no disclosures related to the submitted work.

Organ transplant recipients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) have significantly worse prognostic features compared with SCC in the general population, results from a dual cohort study demonstrated.

The findings build on previous research and underscore the need for early diagnosis and aggressive surveillance in this patient population, corresponding author Adele C. Green, MBBS, PhD, professor and senior scientist at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and colleagues wrote in the study, which was published online in JAMA Dermatology. “Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of the skin develop up to 77 times more frequently in immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients (OTRs) than the general population,” they wrote. “Because SCCs cause substantially more morbidity and death in the former, they are postulated to be innately more aggressive than in immunocompetent patients, but OTRs’ higher SCC mortality may simply reflect greater SCC tumor burdens per patient.”

In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, Dr. Green and colleagues drew data from two cohort studies to evaluate five key clinicopathologic indicators of poor SCC outcomes in organ transplant recipients, and in those from the general population in Queensland, Australia: cephalic location, perineural invasion, invasion to/beyond subcutaneous fat, poor differentiation, and tumor size greater than 20 mm. The study population included organ transplant recipients at high risk of skin cancer, who were enrolled in the Skin Tumours in Allograft Recipients (STAR) study, and those from a population-based cohort, the QSkin Sun and Health Study. STAR consisted of lung transplant recipients and kidney and liver transplant recipients at high risk of skin cancer who were recruited from tertiary centers and diagnosed with histopathologically confirmed SCC from 2012 to 2015. QSkin consisted of individuals from Queensland’s general adult population diagnosed with SCCs from 2012 to 2015.

SCC cases in QSkin were ascertained through Australia’s universal health insurance agency and linked with histopathology records. Next, the researchers performed data analysis from both cohort studies to determine the prevalence ratio (PR) of head/neck location, perineural invasion, tumor invasion to/beyond subcutaneous fat, poor cellular differentiation, and tumor diameter greater than 20 mm among SCCs among organ transplant recipients compared with the general population.

After combining the two studies, the researchers compared 741 SCCs excised from 191 organ transplant recipients and 2,558 SCCs excised from 1,507 individuals in the general population. Their median ages were similar (62.7 and 63.7 years, respectively) and most were male (78% and 63.4%, respectively).

As for site of involvement, SCCs developed most often on the head and neck in the transplant recipients (38.6%) and on the arms and hands in the general population (35.2%). After adjustment for age and sex, perineural invasion of SCCs was more than twice as common in transplant recipients than among cases in the general population, as was invasion to/beyond subcutaneous fat (PR of 2.37 for both associations).

In other findings, compared with SCCs in the general population, poorly vs. well-differentiated SCCs were more than threefold more common in transplant recipients (PR, 3.45), while the prevalence of tumors greater than 20 mm vs. 20 mm or smaller was moderately higher in transplant recipients (PR, 1.52).

“These findings are considered generalizable, confirming that OTRs’ poorer SCC outcomes are associated with not only their sheer numbers of SCC tumors, but also with a strong shift toward more invasive, less differentiated, and larger SCC tumors, in agreement with previous findings,” the researchers wrote. “This shift is likely associated with decreased immunosurveillance resulting from immunosuppressive therapy (since carcinogenesis decelerates with therapy cessation) interacting with effects of high UV radiation exposure.”

They acknowledged certain limitations of their analysis, chiefly the lack of central review of SCCs to ensure standard assessment of histopathologic features “including caliber of nerves with perineural invasion and cell differentiation; such a review would not have been feasible logistically.”

The study was supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. The researchers reported having no disclosures related to the submitted work.

Organ transplant recipients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) have significantly worse prognostic features compared with SCC in the general population, results from a dual cohort study demonstrated.

The findings build on previous research and underscore the need for early diagnosis and aggressive surveillance in this patient population, corresponding author Adele C. Green, MBBS, PhD, professor and senior scientist at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and colleagues wrote in the study, which was published online in JAMA Dermatology. “Squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) of the skin develop up to 77 times more frequently in immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients (OTRs) than the general population,” they wrote. “Because SCCs cause substantially more morbidity and death in the former, they are postulated to be innately more aggressive than in immunocompetent patients, but OTRs’ higher SCC mortality may simply reflect greater SCC tumor burdens per patient.”

In what is believed to be the first study of its kind, Dr. Green and colleagues drew data from two cohort studies to evaluate five key clinicopathologic indicators of poor SCC outcomes in organ transplant recipients, and in those from the general population in Queensland, Australia: cephalic location, perineural invasion, invasion to/beyond subcutaneous fat, poor differentiation, and tumor size greater than 20 mm. The study population included organ transplant recipients at high risk of skin cancer, who were enrolled in the Skin Tumours in Allograft Recipients (STAR) study, and those from a population-based cohort, the QSkin Sun and Health Study. STAR consisted of lung transplant recipients and kidney and liver transplant recipients at high risk of skin cancer who were recruited from tertiary centers and diagnosed with histopathologically confirmed SCC from 2012 to 2015. QSkin consisted of individuals from Queensland’s general adult population diagnosed with SCCs from 2012 to 2015.

SCC cases in QSkin were ascertained through Australia’s universal health insurance agency and linked with histopathology records. Next, the researchers performed data analysis from both cohort studies to determine the prevalence ratio (PR) of head/neck location, perineural invasion, tumor invasion to/beyond subcutaneous fat, poor cellular differentiation, and tumor diameter greater than 20 mm among SCCs among organ transplant recipients compared with the general population.

After combining the two studies, the researchers compared 741 SCCs excised from 191 organ transplant recipients and 2,558 SCCs excised from 1,507 individuals in the general population. Their median ages were similar (62.7 and 63.7 years, respectively) and most were male (78% and 63.4%, respectively).

As for site of involvement, SCCs developed most often on the head and neck in the transplant recipients (38.6%) and on the arms and hands in the general population (35.2%). After adjustment for age and sex, perineural invasion of SCCs was more than twice as common in transplant recipients than among cases in the general population, as was invasion to/beyond subcutaneous fat (PR of 2.37 for both associations).

In other findings, compared with SCCs in the general population, poorly vs. well-differentiated SCCs were more than threefold more common in transplant recipients (PR, 3.45), while the prevalence of tumors greater than 20 mm vs. 20 mm or smaller was moderately higher in transplant recipients (PR, 1.52).

“These findings are considered generalizable, confirming that OTRs’ poorer SCC outcomes are associated with not only their sheer numbers of SCC tumors, but also with a strong shift toward more invasive, less differentiated, and larger SCC tumors, in agreement with previous findings,” the researchers wrote. “This shift is likely associated with decreased immunosurveillance resulting from immunosuppressive therapy (since carcinogenesis decelerates with therapy cessation) interacting with effects of high UV radiation exposure.”

They acknowledged certain limitations of their analysis, chiefly the lack of central review of SCCs to ensure standard assessment of histopathologic features “including caliber of nerves with perineural invasion and cell differentiation; such a review would not have been feasible logistically.”

The study was supported by grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. The researchers reported having no disclosures related to the submitted work.

Infants of fathers who want their child to breastfeed are more likely to be part of a family unit that starts and continues breastfeeding, and fathers informed of safe sleep practices are more likely to follow those sleeping recommendations for their infant, according to the results of a recent survey published in Pediatrics.

The results suggest that including fathers in conversations about breastfeeding and infant sleep practices could help improve adherence, the researchers said.

“Our findings underscore that new fathers are a critical audience to promote breastfeeding and safe infant sleep,” John James Parker, MD, instructor of pediatrics at Northwestern University, Chicago, stated in a press release. “Many families do not gain the health benefits from breastfeeding because they are not provided the support to breastfeed successfully. Fathers need to be directly engaged in breastfeeding discussions, and providers need to describe the important role fathers play in breastfeeding success.”
 

Population-based survey results

Dr. Parker and colleagues used the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) for Dads population-based survey to evaluate the rate of adherence to breastfeeding and infant sleep practices recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. In total, 250 fathers in Georgia were surveyed between October 2018 and July 2019 about whether their infants were breastfeeding and if they were breastfeeding at 8 weeks. The fathers were also asked how often the infant slept in a back sleeping position, on an approved sleep surface, and sleeping with no soft objects or soft bedding.

In addition to surveying fathers on their attitudes on breastfeeding and whether they followed safe infant sleep practices, the researchers collected information on paternal sociodemographic characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, education, health insurance status, and marital status. Overall, a majority fathers who responded to the survey were between 25 years and 34 years old (56.5%), non-Hispanic White (44.7%), had a high school diploma or less (43.7%) or completed college (37.1%), and were married (65.2%).

Dr. Parker and colleagues found fathers surveyed said 86.1% of infants were ever breastfed, which decreased to 63.4% at 8 weeks. Compared with fathers who did not want their infant to breastfeed or expressed no opinion, fathers who wanted to have the infant’s mother breastfeed had a higher likelihood of reporting breastfeeding initiation (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.15-1.68) and breastfeeding at 8 weeks (aPR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.59-3.42). Having a college degree was also associated with the infant breastfeeding (93.6% vs. 75.1%; aPR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.06-1.46) and breastfeeding at 8 weeks (74.7% vs. 52.0%; aPR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.08-1.91), compared with fathers who graduated from high school or less.

Regarding safe infant sleeping practices, 81.18% of fathers said they placed their infants on their back to sleep, but 44.1% said they did not use soft bedding, and 31.9% said they used an approved sleep surface. In total, 99.4% of fathers put their infant to sleep, and 68.4% said they received information on all three infant safe sleeping practices, while 15.7% said they followed all three sleeping recommendations. A health care provider was the most common person giving advice to the father on placing the infant to sleep on their back (84.7%); to use a safe sleep surface such as a crib, bassinet, or pack-and-play (78.7%); and receiving information about what not to place in the infant’s bed (79.1%).

The survey found non-Hispanic Black fathers reported they were less likely to put the infant to sleep on their back (62.5% vs. 89.5%; aPR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.54-0.90) and not use soft bedding (28.1% vs. 54.1%; aPR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.30-0.89), compared with non-Hispanic White fathers. College graduates were more likely to not use soft bedding (61.4% vs. 31.9%; aPR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.25-2.95), more likely to get advice on placing the infant on their back for sleep (94.3% vs. 73.6%; aPR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.09-1.51), and more likely to receive advice on what not to place in the infant’s bed (88.1% vs. 68.5%; aPR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.06-1.57), compared with fathers with a high school diploma or less.

“Fathers need to receive counseling on all the safe sleep practices for their infants,” Dr. Parker said. “To reduce racial disparities in sudden unexpected infant death, we need tailored strategies to increase safe infant sleep practices in the Black community, including public campaigns to increase awareness and home visiting programs. These interventions must involve both parents to be most effective.”
 

Educational efforts should recognize father’s contributions

In an interview, Deborah E. Campbell, MD, chief of neonatology at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, New York, said the survey “adds further important information on the role of fathers both in the care of their infants and young children, but also in terms of supporting the birth parent and a number of the parenting decisions, whether it’s breastfeeding as well as safe sleep practices for the infant.”

The benefits of breastfeeding are important for the infant but also for the health of the family and the community, Dr. Campbell explained, noting that breastfeeding can aid in preventing chronic disease and cancer. Promoting safe sleep practices for infants, on the other hand, helps reduce factors such as infant mortality and sudden unexpected infant death.

While PRAMS has existed for decades, PRAMS for Dads is relatively new and localized as a pilot program in Georgia, Dr. Campbell noted. The pilot program “really shows that you can get helpful information, and it would be wonderful to see that model expanded to begin to look at the father’s role in other states as well.”

To improve adherence to breastfeeding and infant safe sleeping practices, creating broadly educational efforts that include and recognize the contributions of the father are important, especially as fathers today are generally more involved and engaged than in past generations, Dr. Campbell said. For instance, pediatric or family practice offices could be structured in a way that welcomes fathers and appreciates them, rather than focusing solely on the birth mother or the baby.

“I think certainly as we have greater diversity among our families, greater diversity within our communities, just more varied family constellations, recognizing and valuing each member of the family becomes important and then providing them with the information and the tools,” she said.

While health literacy is important, structural inequalities in care provision in health care settings mean that “it’s honestly much more likely that an educated parent is going to have an opportunity to hear more of those messages,” Dr. Campbell said. “They are much more likely to be able to go to childbirth classes, go to the pediatrician visits, take off from work, have leaves so that they can spend time in the hospital during the infant’s stay and the birth parent’s initial recoveries so that they have greater opportunity to get those messages.”

Fathers with lower educational attainment may have good health literacy, but may be unable to be around for these conversations. “Education is really a proxy for a lot of other structural issues,” she said.

Educational messages around safe sleeping practices for the infant should acknowledge that many families might not have the space to have a dedicated room with a crib for an infant, and offer assurances that other safe sleeping options exist, such as a pack-and-play or Moses basket. The most important message to get across to parents is that the baby is “sleeping alone” in a firm, noninclined surface and does not have bedding or other objects around them.

It is not just the infant’s bed that should follow the AAP recommendations: the family bed should also be a firm surface free of soft objects and bedding for breastfeeding, Dr. Campbell noted. If a parent falls asleep while breastfeeding in bed, the AAP’s most recent guidance notes the parent should move the infant to a separate sleep space as soon as they wake up, but the Academy also acknowledges how that can be challenging in early months with sleep deprivation.

“I think it’s dealing with the realities of having a new baby and trying to create the safest environment for that baby, one that supports and promotes breastfeeding as well as safe sleep,” she said.

In families where there are “strong cultural beliefs and traditions” about the baby sleeping with the parents, it is important to “convey the messages in a way that, that honors and values, family traditions and customs, but also assures the safety of the infant,” Dr. Campbell said.

This study was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CDC Innovation Fund. The authors reported no relevant conflicts of interest. Dr. Campbell reported no relevant conflicts of interest.

Infants of fathers who want their child to breastfeed are more likely to be part of a family unit that starts and continues breastfeeding, and fathers informed of safe sleep practices are more likely to follow those sleeping recommendations for their infant, according to the results of a recent survey published in Pediatrics.

The results suggest that including fathers in conversations about breastfeeding and infant sleep practices could help improve adherence, the researchers said.

“Our findings underscore that new fathers are a critical audience to promote breastfeeding and safe infant sleep,” John James Parker, MD, instructor of pediatrics at Northwestern University, Chicago, stated in a press release. “Many families do not gain the health benefits from breastfeeding because they are not provided the support to breastfeed successfully. Fathers need to be directly engaged in breastfeeding discussions, and providers need to describe the important role fathers play in breastfeeding success.”
 

Population-based survey results

Dr. Parker and colleagues used the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) for Dads population-based survey to evaluate the rate of adherence to breastfeeding and infant sleep practices recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. In total, 250 fathers in Georgia were surveyed between October 2018 and July 2019 about whether their infants were breastfeeding and if they were breastfeeding at 8 weeks. The fathers were also asked how often the infant slept in a back sleeping position, on an approved sleep surface, and sleeping with no soft objects or soft bedding.

In addition to surveying fathers on their attitudes on breastfeeding and whether they followed safe infant sleep practices, the researchers collected information on paternal sociodemographic characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, education, health insurance status, and marital status. Overall, a majority fathers who responded to the survey were between 25 years and 34 years old (56.5%), non-Hispanic White (44.7%), had a high school diploma or less (43.7%) or completed college (37.1%), and were married (65.2%).

Dr. Parker and colleagues found fathers surveyed said 86.1% of infants were ever breastfed, which decreased to 63.4% at 8 weeks. Compared with fathers who did not want their infant to breastfeed or expressed no opinion, fathers who wanted to have the infant’s mother breastfeed had a higher likelihood of reporting breastfeeding initiation (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.15-1.68) and breastfeeding at 8 weeks (aPR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.59-3.42). Having a college degree was also associated with the infant breastfeeding (93.6% vs. 75.1%; aPR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.06-1.46) and breastfeeding at 8 weeks (74.7% vs. 52.0%; aPR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.08-1.91), compared with fathers who graduated from high school or less.

Regarding safe infant sleeping practices, 81.18% of fathers said they placed their infants on their back to sleep, but 44.1% said they did not use soft bedding, and 31.9% said they used an approved sleep surface. In total, 99.4% of fathers put their infant to sleep, and 68.4% said they received information on all three infant safe sleeping practices, while 15.7% said they followed all three sleeping recommendations. A health care provider was the most common person giving advice to the father on placing the infant to sleep on their back (84.7%); to use a safe sleep surface such as a crib, bassinet, or pack-and-play (78.7%); and receiving information about what not to place in the infant’s bed (79.1%).

The survey found non-Hispanic Black fathers reported they were less likely to put the infant to sleep on their back (62.5% vs. 89.5%; aPR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.54-0.90) and not use soft bedding (28.1% vs. 54.1%; aPR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.30-0.89), compared with non-Hispanic White fathers. College graduates were more likely to not use soft bedding (61.4% vs. 31.9%; aPR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.25-2.95), more likely to get advice on placing the infant on their back for sleep (94.3% vs. 73.6%; aPR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.09-1.51), and more likely to receive advice on what not to place in the infant’s bed (88.1% vs. 68.5%; aPR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.06-1.57), compared with fathers with a high school diploma or less.

“Fathers need to receive counseling on all the safe sleep practices for their infants,” Dr. Parker said. “To reduce racial disparities in sudden unexpected infant death, we need tailored strategies to increase safe infant sleep practices in the Black community, including public campaigns to increase awareness and home visiting programs. These interventions must involve both parents to be most effective.”
 

Educational efforts should recognize father’s contributions

In an interview, Deborah E. Campbell, MD, chief of neonatology at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, New York, said the survey “adds further important information on the role of fathers both in the care of their infants and young children, but also in terms of supporting the birth parent and a number of the parenting decisions, whether it’s breastfeeding as well as safe sleep practices for the infant.”

The benefits of breastfeeding are important for the infant but also for the health of the family and the community, Dr. Campbell explained, noting that breastfeeding can aid in preventing chronic disease and cancer. Promoting safe sleep practices for infants, on the other hand, helps reduce factors such as infant mortality and sudden unexpected infant death.

While PRAMS has existed for decades, PRAMS for Dads is relatively new and localized as a pilot program in Georgia, Dr. Campbell noted. The pilot program “really shows that you can get helpful information, and it would be wonderful to see that model expanded to begin to look at the father’s role in other states as well.”

To improve adherence to breastfeeding and infant safe sleeping practices, creating broadly educational efforts that include and recognize the contributions of the father are important, especially as fathers today are generally more involved and engaged than in past generations, Dr. Campbell said. For instance, pediatric or family practice offices could be structured in a way that welcomes fathers and appreciates them, rather than focusing solely on the birth mother or the baby.

“I think certainly as we have greater diversity among our families, greater diversity within our communities, just more varied family constellations, recognizing and valuing each member of the family becomes important and then providing them with the information and the tools,” she said.

While health literacy is important, structural inequalities in care provision in health care settings mean that “it’s honestly much more likely that an educated parent is going to have an opportunity to hear more of those messages,” Dr. Campbell said. “They are much more likely to be able to go to childbirth classes, go to the pediatrician visits, take off from work, have leaves so that they can spend time in the hospital during the infant’s stay and the birth parent’s initial recoveries so that they have greater opportunity to get those messages.”

Fathers with lower educational attainment may have good health literacy, but may be unable to be around for these conversations. “Education is really a proxy for a lot of other structural issues,” she said.

Educational messages around safe sleeping practices for the infant should acknowledge that many families might not have the space to have a dedicated room with a crib for an infant, and offer assurances that other safe sleeping options exist, such as a pack-and-play or Moses basket. The most important message to get across to parents is that the baby is “sleeping alone” in a firm, noninclined surface and does not have bedding or other objects around them.

It is not just the infant’s bed that should follow the AAP recommendations: the family bed should also be a firm surface free of soft objects and bedding for breastfeeding, Dr. Campbell noted. If a parent falls asleep while breastfeeding in bed, the AAP’s most recent guidance notes the parent should move the infant to a separate sleep space as soon as they wake up, but the Academy also acknowledges how that can be challenging in early months with sleep deprivation.

“I think it’s dealing with the realities of having a new baby and trying to create the safest environment for that baby, one that supports and promotes breastfeeding as well as safe sleep,” she said.

In families where there are “strong cultural beliefs and traditions” about the baby sleeping with the parents, it is important to “convey the messages in a way that, that honors and values, family traditions and customs, but also assures the safety of the infant,” Dr. Campbell said.

This study was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CDC Innovation Fund. The authors reported no relevant conflicts of interest. Dr. Campbell reported no relevant conflicts of interest.

Infants of fathers who want their child to breastfeed are more likely to be part of a family unit that starts and continues breastfeeding, and fathers informed of safe sleep practices are more likely to follow those sleeping recommendations for their infant, according to the results of a recent survey published in Pediatrics.

The results suggest that including fathers in conversations about breastfeeding and infant sleep practices could help improve adherence, the researchers said.

“Our findings underscore that new fathers are a critical audience to promote breastfeeding and safe infant sleep,” John James Parker, MD, instructor of pediatrics at Northwestern University, Chicago, stated in a press release. “Many families do not gain the health benefits from breastfeeding because they are not provided the support to breastfeed successfully. Fathers need to be directly engaged in breastfeeding discussions, and providers need to describe the important role fathers play in breastfeeding success.”
 

Population-based survey results

Dr. Parker and colleagues used the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) for Dads population-based survey to evaluate the rate of adherence to breastfeeding and infant sleep practices recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. In total, 250 fathers in Georgia were surveyed between October 2018 and July 2019 about whether their infants were breastfeeding and if they were breastfeeding at 8 weeks. The fathers were also asked how often the infant slept in a back sleeping position, on an approved sleep surface, and sleeping with no soft objects or soft bedding.

In addition to surveying fathers on their attitudes on breastfeeding and whether they followed safe infant sleep practices, the researchers collected information on paternal sociodemographic characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, education, health insurance status, and marital status. Overall, a majority fathers who responded to the survey were between 25 years and 34 years old (56.5%), non-Hispanic White (44.7%), had a high school diploma or less (43.7%) or completed college (37.1%), and were married (65.2%).

Dr. Parker and colleagues found fathers surveyed said 86.1% of infants were ever breastfed, which decreased to 63.4% at 8 weeks. Compared with fathers who did not want their infant to breastfeed or expressed no opinion, fathers who wanted to have the infant’s mother breastfeed had a higher likelihood of reporting breastfeeding initiation (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.15-1.68) and breastfeeding at 8 weeks (aPR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.59-3.42). Having a college degree was also associated with the infant breastfeeding (93.6% vs. 75.1%; aPR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.06-1.46) and breastfeeding at 8 weeks (74.7% vs. 52.0%; aPR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.08-1.91), compared with fathers who graduated from high school or less.

Regarding safe infant sleeping practices, 81.18% of fathers said they placed their infants on their back to sleep, but 44.1% said they did not use soft bedding, and 31.9% said they used an approved sleep surface. In total, 99.4% of fathers put their infant to sleep, and 68.4% said they received information on all three infant safe sleeping practices, while 15.7% said they followed all three sleeping recommendations. A health care provider was the most common person giving advice to the father on placing the infant to sleep on their back (84.7%); to use a safe sleep surface such as a crib, bassinet, or pack-and-play (78.7%); and receiving information about what not to place in the infant’s bed (79.1%).

The survey found non-Hispanic Black fathers reported they were less likely to put the infant to sleep on their back (62.5% vs. 89.5%; aPR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.54-0.90) and not use soft bedding (28.1% vs. 54.1%; aPR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.30-0.89), compared with non-Hispanic White fathers. College graduates were more likely to not use soft bedding (61.4% vs. 31.9%; aPR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.25-2.95), more likely to get advice on placing the infant on their back for sleep (94.3% vs. 73.6%; aPR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.09-1.51), and more likely to receive advice on what not to place in the infant’s bed (88.1% vs. 68.5%; aPR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.06-1.57), compared with fathers with a high school diploma or less.

“Fathers need to receive counseling on all the safe sleep practices for their infants,” Dr. Parker said. “To reduce racial disparities in sudden unexpected infant death, we need tailored strategies to increase safe infant sleep practices in the Black community, including public campaigns to increase awareness and home visiting programs. These interventions must involve both parents to be most effective.”
 

Educational efforts should recognize father’s contributions

In an interview, Deborah E. Campbell, MD, chief of neonatology at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, New York, said the survey “adds further important information on the role of fathers both in the care of their infants and young children, but also in terms of supporting the birth parent and a number of the parenting decisions, whether it’s breastfeeding as well as safe sleep practices for the infant.”

The benefits of breastfeeding are important for the infant but also for the health of the family and the community, Dr. Campbell explained, noting that breastfeeding can aid in preventing chronic disease and cancer. Promoting safe sleep practices for infants, on the other hand, helps reduce factors such as infant mortality and sudden unexpected infant death.

While PRAMS has existed for decades, PRAMS for Dads is relatively new and localized as a pilot program in Georgia, Dr. Campbell noted. The pilot program “really shows that you can get helpful information, and it would be wonderful to see that model expanded to begin to look at the father’s role in other states as well.”

To improve adherence to breastfeeding and infant safe sleeping practices, creating broadly educational efforts that include and recognize the contributions of the father are important, especially as fathers today are generally more involved and engaged than in past generations, Dr. Campbell said. For instance, pediatric or family practice offices could be structured in a way that welcomes fathers and appreciates them, rather than focusing solely on the birth mother or the baby.

“I think certainly as we have greater diversity among our families, greater diversity within our communities, just more varied family constellations, recognizing and valuing each member of the family becomes important and then providing them with the information and the tools,” she said.

While health literacy is important, structural inequalities in care provision in health care settings mean that “it’s honestly much more likely that an educated parent is going to have an opportunity to hear more of those messages,” Dr. Campbell said. “They are much more likely to be able to go to childbirth classes, go to the pediatrician visits, take off from work, have leaves so that they can spend time in the hospital during the infant’s stay and the birth parent’s initial recoveries so that they have greater opportunity to get those messages.”

Fathers with lower educational attainment may have good health literacy, but may be unable to be around for these conversations. “Education is really a proxy for a lot of other structural issues,” she said.

Educational messages around safe sleeping practices for the infant should acknowledge that many families might not have the space to have a dedicated room with a crib for an infant, and offer assurances that other safe sleeping options exist, such as a pack-and-play or Moses basket. The most important message to get across to parents is that the baby is “sleeping alone” in a firm, noninclined surface and does not have bedding or other objects around them.

It is not just the infant’s bed that should follow the AAP recommendations: the family bed should also be a firm surface free of soft objects and bedding for breastfeeding, Dr. Campbell noted. If a parent falls asleep while breastfeeding in bed, the AAP’s most recent guidance notes the parent should move the infant to a separate sleep space as soon as they wake up, but the Academy also acknowledges how that can be challenging in early months with sleep deprivation.

“I think it’s dealing with the realities of having a new baby and trying to create the safest environment for that baby, one that supports and promotes breastfeeding as well as safe sleep,” she said.

In families where there are “strong cultural beliefs and traditions” about the baby sleeping with the parents, it is important to “convey the messages in a way that, that honors and values, family traditions and customs, but also assures the safety of the infant,” Dr. Campbell said.

This study was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CDC Innovation Fund. The authors reported no relevant conflicts of interest. Dr. Campbell reported no relevant conflicts of interest.