MCH Alert


Maternal and Child Health Library

This and past issues of the MCH Alert are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/alert/archives.html.


April 11, 2008

1. Presentation Released to Support Sharing of Information About the Importance of Systems of Services
2. Journal Supplement Addresses Inflicted Traumatic Brain Injury in Young Children
3. Journal Supplement Recognizes Significance of Underage Alcohol Use in Child and Adolescent Health and Development
4. Article Compares Characteristics of Adolescents with and Without Bedroom TVs
5. Study Quantifies the Increased Use of Health Care Services Associated with Obesity During Pregnancy

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1. PRESENTATION RELEASED TO SUPPORT SHARING OF INFORMATION ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF SYSTEMS OF SERVICES

Defining a Community-Based System of Services for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs explains the importance of organizing community services so that children and adolescents with special health care needs and their families can use these services more easily. The Flash presentation, created by Champions for Inclusive Communities (ChampionsInC), explains the importance of community-based systems of services and illustrates the six outcomes that communities are currently working toward. A redistributable version of the presentation and a transcript are available for use by communities or organizations that would like to share this information with others.  A Spanish version of the presentation will be available in the future. The presentation is available for viewing online or as a download at http://www.championsinc.org/about/intro/download_form.cfm.

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2. JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT ADDRESSES INFLICTED TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY IN YOUNG CHILDREN

The April 2008 supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine focuses on efforts to monitor inflicted childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) and on the programs in place to prevent inflicted TBI from occurring. The supplement, produced with support from the Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, examines public health approaches to measuring inflicted TBI and the value of epidemiology in understanding and preventing violence against children. The content is drawn from an October 2006 meeting sponsored by the National Center on shaken baby syndrome to bring together a multidisciplinary group of professionals with scientific and clinical expertise to address the challenges of implementing valid and reliable shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma surveillance systems in the United State and other countries. Supplement topics include measuring incidence and findings from current measurement systems, evaluating the effectiveness of preventive initiatives, and defining the ideal system. The supplement is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=PublicationURL&_tockey=%23TOC%236075%232008%23999659995.8998%23683859%23FLA%23&_cdi=6075&_pubType=J&_auth=y&_acct=C000035538&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=655954&md5=86b2979882908e95bded44a9c5933e3c.

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3. JOURNAL SUPPLEMENT RECOGNIZES SIGNIFICANCE OF UNDERAGE ALCOHOL USE IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT

The April 2008 supplement to Pediatrics addresses the complex relationship between development and underage drinking. The supplement, sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), draws from discussions among members of the NIAAA Team on Underage Drinking and its group of outside experts about the nature and extent of underage drinking in the United States and efforts to integrate research in child and adolescent development with alcohol research. The first article provides a developmental framework for understanding and addressing underage drinking. The next three articles present information on underage drinking divided into three age groupings: children under age 10, younger adolescents (ages 10-15), and older adolescents (ages 16-20). Certain topics necessarily appear in multiple articles because they are not confined in the course of natural development to a single age group. The final three articles review the state of the science on prevention and treatment interventions for underage drinking. Abstracts of supplement articles are available at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/vol121/Supplement_4/index.shtml.

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4. ARTICLE COMPARES CHARACTERISTICS OF ADOLESCENTS WITH AND WITHOUT BEDROOM TVS

"These exploratory analyses are important and pertinent to the health of adolescents and have implications for parents considering whether they should allow their children to have a TV in their bedrooms," state the authors of an article published in the April 2008 issue of Pediatrics. It has been well documented that adolescents spend a great deal of time watching TV. Heavy TV use is of concern because more use is associated with negative behavioral and physical outcomes, such as poor school performance, poor dietary habits, and a higher body mass index. A related factor that may contribute to increased TV viewing and that is associated with negative outcomes is the presence of a TV in adolescents' bedrooms. The study described in this article examines the prevalence of having a bedroom TV among a large, population-based sample of adolescents ages 15-18 and compares sociodemographic, personal, and behavioral characteristics of adolescents with and without a bedroom TV.

The data analyzed for the study were from Project Eat Among Teens (EAT)-II, the follow-up portion of a study that examined socioenvironmental, personal, and behavioral determinants of dietary intake and weight status in adolescents. The final sample included in the analysis was an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse group of 781 adolescents. Measures included presence of a bedroom TV, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, eating behaviors, and personal factors (demographic features, weight status, grade point average, family connectedness, depression).

The authors found that
The authors conclude that "refraining from placing a TV in adolescents' bedrooms may be a first step in helping to decrease screen time and subsequent behaviors associated with increased TV watching."

Barr-Anderson DJ, van den Berg P, Neumark-Sztainer D, et al. 2008. Characteristics associated with older adolescents who have a TV in their bedrooms. Pediatrics 121(4):718-724. Abstract available at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/121/4/718.

Readers: More information is available from the following MCH Library resources:

- Knowledge Path: Healthy Social and Emotional Development in Children and Adolescents at
http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_Mental_Healthy.html

- Knowledge Path: Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents at
http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_overweight.html

- Knowledge Path: Physical Activity and Children and Adolescents at
http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_phys_activity.html

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5. STUDY QUANTIFIES THE INCREASED USE OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES ASSOCIATED WITH OBESITY DURING PREGNANCY

"We found that obesity was associated with greater use of inpatient and outpatient health care services," state the authors of an article published in the April 2, 2008, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Although it is recognized that pregnant women who are obese use more health care services than those who are not, published estimates of the magnitude of the increase are limited. The article presents findings from a study to estimate the increase in use of maternal health care services associated with obesity during pregnancy.

Data for the study were drawn from multiple Kaiser Permanente Northwest automated data systems. The final study sample included 13,442 women ages 18 and older with pregnancy episodes (defined as beginning 2 weeks before conception and ending 8 weeks after delivery) that began on or after January 1, 2000, and ended on or before December 31, 2004, and that resulted in a live birth or a stillbirth (fetal death at 20 weeks of gestation or later). The analyses assessed associations between measures of use of health care services and maternal body mass index (BMI), with length of hospital stay for delivery as the primary measure of use of health care services.

The authors found that
"Maternal BMI higher than normal is associated with greater use of health care services," state the authors. "Of the 4 million births each year in the United States, approximately 1 million involve obese women. Thus, even a small increase in the cost of health care associated with obesity will have substantial economic implications."

Chu SY, Bachman DJ, Callaghan WM, et al. 2008. Association between obesity during pregnancy and increased use of health care. New England Journal of Medicine 358(14):1444-1453. Abstract available at
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/358/14/1444?query=TOC.

Readers: More information is available from the following MCH Library resources:

- Knowledge Path: Preconception and Pregnancy at
http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_pregnancy.html

- Nutrition During Pregnancy (organizations resource list) at
http://www.mchlibrary.info/action.lasso?-database=Biblio&-layout=Web&-response=/databases/BibLists/bib_pregnutr.html&-MaxRecords=all&-DoScript=auto_search_pregnutr&-search

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MCH Alert © 1998-2008 by National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health and Georgetown University. MCH Alert is produced by Maternal and Child Health Library at the National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health under its cooperative agreement (U02MC00001) with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Maternal and Child Health Bureau reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to use the work for federal purposes and to authorize others to use the work for federal purposes.
 
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MANAGING EDITOR: Jolene Bertness
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MCH Alert
Maternal and Child Health Library
National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health
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