This is a recap of recent health news featuring Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. We hope you enjoy this week’s edition of collected news, and please feel free to offer comments below – we really do listen!
Study Suggests ADHD, Anesthesia Link
U.S. News & World Report, Health.com
Children who’ve had more than one surgery with general anesthesia by their second birthday might be at higher risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a new study suggests.
But Dr. Tanya Froehlich, a specialist in developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s, said the new study – in this month’s issue of the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings – does not prove a cause-and-effect connection between surgical anesthesia and ADHD.
Commenting on the study, Dr. Froehlich said that any link could be confounded by multiple factors, including the fact that ADHD kids are more prone to injuries that might require surgery.
“When I read the study, I thought of a lot of reasons that anesthesia and ADHD may be associated but not necessarily causative. In the study they’re only proving an association,” she said. But Dr. Froehlich added, “Even though we can think of all these confounders we can’t just dismiss the study. It’s something that we as doctors should be aware of and should think about.”
Research Stirs BPA Controversy
Cleveland Plain Dealer
You see the labels in most any store touting “BPA-free” products. They’re usually found on plastic water and baby bottles, and in formula and other infant supplies. But buying BPA-free products alone may not be enough to avoid the controversial chemical, according to new research.
The chemical, bisphenol-A, originally created as a synthetic estrogen for pharmaceutical use, has been used to make plastic and resins since the 1960s.
Dr. Frank Biro, director of adolescent medicine at Cincinnati Children’s, believes the impact of BPA on pregnant women and their babies continues beyond the womb.
Biro and a team of researchers have a $4.6 million National Institutes of Health grant to follow more than 1,000 girls for five years, testing them for a wide range of chemicals, including BPA.
“One of the questions that we have about BPA is, ‘Does it influence the timing of puberty?’” Biro said. He adds that for now, he himself follows a careful lifestyle to reduce his exposure to all chemicals – not just BPA.
Child’s Health Harbinger Of Parental Heart Disease?
Business Courier
If you want to know your risk of premature heart disease, you might take a look at your children. Parents of children with high blood pressure and low levels of “good” cholesterol were more likely to develop cardiovascular disease at or before age 50, according to a new study.
The study by Cincinnati Children’s Dr. John Morrison and Charles Glueck of Jewish Hospital also found that children with high triglyceride levels at age 12 are more likely than those with normal levels to have heart attacks and strokes by the age of 38. Early identification of kids with these risk factors allows time for interventions to reduce the chance that later in life they will suffer heart attacks or strokes or develop type 2 diabetes.
