Maternal and Child Health Library

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

February 5, 2010

Special Notice: Children’s Emotional, Behavioral, and Developmental Well-Being: New Data and Tools for the Field will be held on February 9, 2010, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. The Web conference, part of the DataSpeak series hosted by the Maternal and Child Health Information Center (MCHIRC) with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau, will discuss national- and state-level data from the National Survey of Children's Health, and, specifically, the rise in autism rates. Additional topics include the role of public health professionals in helping primary care health professionals provide appropriate care for children with autism. Register at http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/mchirc/dataspeak/register.htm. More information is available from the MCHIRC Web site at http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/mchirc/dataspeak/events/2010/0209/index.htm, by e-mail at mchirc@altarum.org, or by telephone at (202) 842-2000.

1.NEW EDITION OF ORAL HEALTH KNOWLEDGE PATH AVAILABLE

Oral Health for Infants, Children, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women: Knowledge Path is an electronic guide to recent resources that analyze data, describe effective programs, and report on policy and research aimed at improving access to and the quality of oral health care. The new edition of the knowledge path was produced by the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Library in collaboration with the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center for National Children's Dental Health Month (February 2010). The path contains information on Web sites and resources from national and state organizations, distance learning resources, databases, and newsletters and online discussion lists. A separate section lists resources for consumers. The final part of the knowledge path presents resources on specific aspects of oral health: child care and Head Start, dental sealants, early childhood caries, fluoride varnish, K-12 education, pregnancy, school-based care, school-evaluation mandates, and special health care needs. The knowledge path is available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/kp_oralhealth.html

MCH Library knowledge paths on other topics are available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/KnowledgePaths/index.html. The MCH Library welcomes feedback on the usefulness and value of these knowledge paths. A feedback form is available at http://www.mchlibrary.info/feedback/index.html

• At 6 to 12 months follow-up, children and adolescents in comprehensive intervention groups were 0.3 to 3.3 kg/m2 lighter than controls.
• Intervention effectiveness tended to increase with more intensive interventions, with the largest effects (between-group BMI differences of 1.9-3.3 kg/m2) reported for three moderate- to high-intensity comprehensive weight-management programs.
• In the single comprehensive medium- to high-intensity trial with 12 additional months of follow-up, benefits were maintained.
• Pharmacologic adjuncts to behavioral interventions among obese adolescents ages 12 to 18 provide superior benefits compared with behaviorally based treatment alone. BMI reduction in the sibutramine-treated group was 2.9 kg/m2 compared with 0.3 kg/m2 in the control group. BMI reduction in the orlistat-treated group was 0.55 kg/m2 compared with a gain of 0.3 kg/m2 in the control group.
• Longer-term follow-up of weight loss after active treatment with sibutramine or orlistat was not reported for any trial.

• Characteristics associated with having a medical home were similar for children with ADHD and with asthma and included being insured, not poor, white, or having less severe illness.
• Children with ADHD were less likely to meet the criteria of having a medical home than children with asthma. Specifically, parents of children with ADHD were less likely to report having family-centered care (doctors provide needed information, help the family feel like partners, listen carefully, or are culturally sensitive). They were also less likely to report that they received help with care coordination and were less satisfied with communication among doctors or between doctors and others.
• Overall, as parent-reported severity of illness increased, the proportion of children who were reported to have a medical home decreased both for children with ADHD and for those with asthma.