Medical Research Council (MRC) and Institute of Child Health scientists say that babies who grow fast are at greater risk of heart disease and stroke in later life. Because brea
Booster seats significantly reduce the chance of a four to eight year old child sustaining serious injury in a car crash, but many children do not use them. Programs that aim to increase use by educating people, giving away free booster seats, or combi
U.S. health authorities should have waited for more evidence before recommending routine flu shots for healthy toddlers, according to a new systematic review of studies involving half a million children worldwide.Only a few studies of the vacci
Systematic phonics should feature in every child's reading instruction and it should be part of every literacy teacher's repertoire, according to a Government-funded review of research by academics at the
Extremely premature baby girls, especially those who are African American, are much more likely to survive than extremely premature white boys, according to research published in the January issue of
According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic children who have frequent headaches often also have sleep problems. Kenneth Mack, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatric neurologist specializing in headache
According to a new report, every year an estimated 8 million children are born with a serious birth defect of genetic or partially genetic origin.The report from the March of Dimes says i
According to an expert in the UK, highly analytical couples such as scientists, engineers, physicists and mathematicians, are more likely to produce children with autism.Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, of the
Not surprisingly -- but definitely significantly -- children with asthma had fewer asthma-related attacks and medical visits after enrolling in the state children's health insurance program (SCHIP), according to a
City children with asthma are more likely to have problems with behavior than children without the chronic respiratory problems, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study in t
"Asthma is the most common chronic condition in childhood and a leading cause of childhood hospitalizations," said Jonathan E. Fielding, M.D., M.P.H., Director of Public Health and County Health Officer. "Children with asthma suffer a significant burden. Asthma can limit their normal activities and lead to serious complications including pneumonia, impaired growth and development, and even death."
The survey found that among children with asthma, 41% of children (ages 0-5) and 47% of school-aged children (ages 6- 17) limited their physical activity due to their asthma. African Americans, Latinos, and Asian/Pacific Islanders with asthma were more likely to report limiting their child's physical activity (39%, 56%, and 60% respectively) compared to whites (23%).
Among children with asthma, two in five 0 to 5-year-olds and one-quarter of 6 to 17-year-olds visited an emergency room or urgent care facility in the past year as a result of asthma. ER and urgent care visits were more often reported among African American (33%) and Latino (32%) children compared to whites (18%). The numbers were too small to assess the percentage for Asians/Pacific Islanders.
Many children with poor access to health are likely to have asthma that is undiagnosed. The prevalence of asthma among children without health insurance or without a regular source of health care was about half that of those with health insurance and a regular provider.
"These findings suggest that there may be many children with asthma that remains undiagnosed because they have less access to health care," said Paul Simon, M.D., M.P.H. Chief of Health Assessment and Epidemiology, the office that developed the survey. "Furthermore, many children with asthma are being seen in urgent or emergency care settings, which points to the critically important role of both parents and clinicians to assure that asthma is being properly managed at home and in health care."
Public Health is committed to protecting and improving the health of the nearly 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. Through a variety of programs, community partnerships and services, Public Health oversees environmental health, disease control and community and family health and comprises more than 3,800 employees with an annual budget exceeding $600 million.
http://lapublichealth.org