Parents often give their infants acetaminophen (Tylenol) after immunizations and booster shots. As it turns out, this may do more harm than good. The medication may actually weaken infants’ immune systems, according to research from the Czech Republic.

Acetaminophen is sometimes given to infants and small children following shots to prevent fever, a common reaction to vaccinations. This study examined the effects of acetaminophen on immune response after initial and booster vaccinations.

Two hundred twenty-six children from 10 different medical centers were randomly selected to receive three doses every six to eight hours for 24 hours after immunizations. Just 42 percent of these children experienced fevers (100.4 degrees F or above), compared to 66 percent of a control group of 233.

When it was time for booster shots, parents were asked to repeat the process. There was a lower incidence of fever in both groups—36 percent for those who took acetaminophen and 58 percent for those who did not.

Children who received acetaminophen , however, had fewer antibodies, indicating more susceptibility to disease. In the studied children, pneumonia, hepatitis B, whooping cough, polio, diphtheria and tetanus antibodies were fewer following vaccinations and boosters with acetaminophen use.

Antibodies are proteins in the immune system (immunoglobulins) that bind to harmful pathogens (viruses) to keep them away from healthy white blood cells. Without these antibodies, the body’s immune system is more susceptible to disease.

When vaccines fail to protect against diseases, the health of the entire community is at stake because viruses are more easily spread.

“This point has implications, especially for Haemophilus influenzae, for which higher and sustained antibody concentrations are needed (to reduce transmission),” says Dr. Robert T Chen of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, “…and for pertussis, the bacterial vaccine-preventable disease that is least controlled.”

Although they’re not entirely sure why children taking acetaminophen had fewer antibodies, doctors plan to explore the issue further. They stress the importance of this information, and advise against unnecessary acetaminophen use.

“(A)dministration of antipyretic drugs at the time of vaccination should nevertheless no longer be routinely recommended without careful weighing of the expected benefits and risks,” wrote lead author Dr. Roman Pryula of the University of Defense in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic.

The study appears in this month’s online issue of The Lancet.

The largest study ever conducted on U.S. children’s health begins enrolling participants this week in parts of New York and North Carolina. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today that the long-planned National Children’s Study will begin recruiting volunteers to take part in its comprehensive study of how genes and the environment interact to affect children’s health. The study will track the health and development of more than 100,000 children from before birth until they turn 21.

The ambitious study was originally ordered by Congress in 2000, but budget issues and logistical planning delayed the NIH from beginning the study until now. Researchers want to investigate how environmental factors encountered in early life can “tip the scales” for genetically vulnerable individuals leading to disorders such as autism, asthma, and cerebral palsy, and perhaps even to diseases of adulthood like Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. Because of the large number of individuals enrolled, the study also has the capability to assess uncommon disorders, as well as how exposures to different environmental conditions and genetic factors may interact.

Enrollment in the study begins this week at two very different sites: the urban, industrial New York City borough of Queens, and the sparsely populated, rural area of Duplin County, N.C. In April, scientists will begin recruiting in five more locations in California, Pennsylvania, Utah, South Dakota and Minnesota.

The first locations will serve as pilot sites for the study's initial setup, with nationwide enrollment set for summer 2010. Eventually, the study will expand to include a total of 105 locations throughout the country to ensure that the data collected reflect a scientifically representative sample of the nation's diverse population.

Scientists are seeking women who are trying to get pregnant or who are already in the in the early stages of pregnancy. Study participants will be required to provide a series of samples, both biological – including urine, blood, hair, and genital swabs – and environmental – including samples of dust, water, and air from inside their homes. Pregnant moms will participate in monthly phone calls and be required to keep records of medical events, diet, and activity. After birth, their babies' health will be tracked through periodic exams and checks of their home environment in the first year of life and beyond.

However, if you live in one of the enrollment areas, the NIH urges you NOT to contact them in an attempt to become a study participant. In order to maintain scientific validity, participants must come from within narrowly defined geographic locations. Researchers are calling homes as well as enlisting the help of local prenatal care providers to recruit participants.

A listing of the exact locations of the first seven sites to enroll is available on the National Children’s Study Web site at http://www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov/about/overview/Pages/Study-Centers-Awarded-12-18-08.pdf.

For more information about health issues for children, join the Healia Health Community for child health. For more information about childhood asthma, check out the Healia Health Guide on Asthma.

 

Below is a list of the top 15 healthiest countries in the world as ranked by Forbes magazine. To arrive at their rank, research staff at Forbes examined statistics such as pollution; the percentage of a country's population with access to improved drinking water and sanitation; infant mortality rates; the rate of prevalence of tuberculosis; the density of physicians per 1,000 people; undernourishment rates; and healthy life expectancy for men. Forbes eliminated from the analysis the countries that did not have statistics in every measure (including some that would likely have made the top 15 such as Ireland, Belgium, and Norway.

The 15 healthiest countries in the world are:

1. Iceland
   This small Scandinavian island in the North Atlantic is the healthiest country in the world due to its long healthy life expectancies, low pollution levels, high density of physicians per capita, and low TB and infant mortality rates.
2. Sweden
   The largest of the Scandinavian countries – both in area and population – Sweden has some of the cleanest air in the world. Its infant mortality rate and TB prevalence are some of the lowest in the world. But the physician density, while relatively high, is not enough to knock Iceland from the top spot.
3. Finland
   Rounding out the top three is yet another Scandinavian country. Finland shares the clean air, low TB prevalence, and low infant mortality rate of its regional brethren ahead of it on the list, but comes up just a little short on those measures to crack the top two.
4. Germany
   The German health care system, one of the best in the world, provides one of the highest physician densities on the list and Germany’s clean air solidifies its position in the top five.
5. Switzerland
   Switzerland has the second-highest health spending per capita of all the countries considered and has one of the world’s highest physician densities and longest healthy life expectancies. However, its air pollution levels are higher than the others in the top five.
6. Australia
   Australia has an excellent health care system that requires insurance companies to charge policyholders the same premiums regardless of their status or past. The country also has some of the world’s cleanest air, but its relatively high TB prevalence keeps it out of the top five.
7. Denmark
   While this forth Scandinavian country to make the list has some of the highest income taxes to help pay for the country’s universal health care coverage, the Danish health care system isn’t very efficient, perhaps due in part to its having one of the lowest physician densities on the list. The country does have one of the highest healthy life expectancies on the list.
8. Canada
   Canadians enjoy one of the world's longest life expectancies despite having the lowest physician density on the list. Our neighbor to the north also has one of the lowest TB rates, but gets marked down for its relatively high infant mortality rate.
9. Austria
   Austria has a relatively high physician density and a low infant mortality rate, but its poor air quality and high TB prevalence prevent it form climbing any higher on the list.
10. Netherlands
    This highly urbanized, densely populated nation suffers from pollution in the water, air, and soil, but its low TB rate and average healthy life expectancy keep in the top ten.
11. United States
    The U.S.far outspends any other country on health care, but 15% of the population still lacks health insurance. However the U.S does have the lowest infant mortality rate in the world, the second-highest healthy life expectancy, and a low TB rate.
12. Israel
    Israel has one of the highest levels of air pollution on the list, but its physician density is the highest in the world and life expectancy is average for the countries on the list.
13. Czech Republic
    The Czech Republic has one of the list’s lowest healthy life expectancies as well and relatively poor sanitation and high TB prevalence. However, the country now boasts one of the world’s lowest infant mortality rates.
14. Spain
    A high physician density, healthy life expectancy, and low infant mortality rate make Spain a pretty healthy place to live, but a high tuberculosis rate and air pollution temper this somewhat.
15. France
    France’s excellent health care system, clean air and high density of physicians per capita landed it on the list, while poor wastewater treatment and a high tuberculosis rate kept France from climbing any higher.

_{Source: Forbes Special Report: World's Healthiest Countries, Allison Van Dusen and Ana Patricia Ferrey, April 08, 2008.
Photo: keeshu, MorgueFIle license}

The following is a list of the healthiest cities in America as ranked by Sperling's BestPlaces and Centrum. The Centrum Healthiest Cities Study is a comprehensive "health report card" of U.S. cities based on the key factors that can contribute to overall well-being.

To compile the list, Sperling’s and Centrum culled data on 50 U.S. cities from both public and private sources and assessed each city against 50 select measures in five major categories: Physical Activity, Health Status, Nutrition, Lifestyle Pursuits, and Mental Wellness.

The top 10 healthiest U.S. cities are:

1. San Jose, CA
   This northern California city gets high marks for mental wellness, low rates of cigarette smoking, and high fruit and vegetable consumption.
2. Washington, DC
   Citizens of the nation’s capital have great overall mental and emotional health, along with good rates of dental care and low average body mass index (BMI).
3. San Francisco, CA
   These Bay Area residents have low average BMI and get lots of physical activity, and the city has the most physicians per capita.
4. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
   Despite the rain, Northwesterners in the Seattle have the highest physical activity and vigorous exercise of any city and also make the healthiest lifestyle choices.
5. Salt Lake City-Ogden, UT
   Residents of this home to the Mormon Tabernacle have high rates of mental wellness and physical activity.
6. Oakland, CA
   The third Bay Area city to make the list, Oakland boasts high overall health status, good dental care, and low smoking rates.
7. Sacramento, CA
   This inland city in northern California has the lowest rate of asthma and also scores highly on exercise rate and intensity.
8. Orange County, CA
   The smallest (by area) county in California, this southern enclave has high rates of physical activity and also score well in mental wellness and rates of restful sleep.
9. Denver, CO
   Residents of this mile-high city in the Rockies have low BMIs and a high level of physical activity.
10. Austin-San Marcos, TX
    Home the University of Texas, this region scores high in physical activity and has one of the highest numbers of gyms and heath clubs per capita.

For more information on living healthy, join the Healia Health Community for Excercise and Fitness or the Healia Health Community on Diet and Nutrition.

_{Source: Sperling’s Best Places. More information about the methods and resources used can be found here: http://www.bestplaces.net/docs/studies/healthy_methodology.aspx}

_{Photo: roarofthefour, Flicr, Creative Commons}

A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week finds that car and other transportation-related accidents are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S. About 8,000 child and teen deaths each year in the U.S. involve a motor vehicle occupant, pedestrian, or cyclist, with the highest fatality rates being among occupants of motor vehicles.

To prepare the report, the CDC examined data collected between 2000 and 2006 on emergency room visits and fatalities in children and teens from birth to age nineteen. According to the report, an estimated 9.2 million children visit emergency departments each year for unintentional injuries. Falls caused the most non-fatal injuries (about 2.8 million each year) and were associated with over half of the nonfatal injuries involving children less than one year. Drowning and poisoning were also leading causes of non-fatal injuries among children less than four years old

The report also notes that between 2000 and 2005, unintentional injuries resulted in 73,052 deaths among children and teens, with transportation-related deaths leading the way. Such deaths were highest among children 15 to 19 years of age. Overall, males were almost twice as likely to die from unintentional injuries as females.

The release of the CDC’s report coincided with the World Health Organization′s (WHO) and the United Nations Children′s Fund′s (UNICEF) launch of the 2008 World Report on Child Injury Prevention. The global report found that car crashes, drowning, and other accidents kill 830,000 children worldwide each year. Road crashes are the leading cause of accidental death worldwide, killing 260,000 children each year and injuring 10 million, with drowning, burns, falls, and accidental poisoning rounding out the top five.

Around 95 percent of the worldwide accidental deaths occurred in the developing world, mostly in Africa, and in richer nations deaths from accidents disproportionately affect the poor.

For information about the preventing child injuries and death, see the CDC’s “Protect the Ones You Love” initiative at www.cdc.gov/safechild. The Healia Health Community on Child Health is a great place to discuss the measures you take to keep your kids safe and get ideas from other parents.

 

_{Sources: UPI, CDC}

_{Photo: Old Man Lee, Flickr, Creative Commons}

A recent study reports that babies who are born in autumn are more likely to develop asthma than babies born at any other time of year. According to the study, newborns with birthdates four months before the peak of cold and flu season have a 30% greater risk of developing childhood asthma than other babies.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University examined the records of 95,000 infants and their mothers in Tennessee. They found that all babies who had a clinically significant lung infection called bronchiolitis at any time during infancy were at increased risk of asthma, but autumn babies had the greatest risk.

While it was already known that babies born during the fall in the Northern Hemisphere have a greater risk of developing asthma, this study is the first to connect that increase with the timing of peak viral activity in the winter months.

The increase in asthma risk may be related to a common respiratory virus called the respiratory syncytial virus or RSV that is responsible for many of the cases of cold-like symptoms experienced by adults and children each winter. Most children are infected with RSV early in life, with infections occurring most often between the ages of 3 and 6 months. The virus usually clears up without serious complications. However, in some cases it can lead to bronchiolitis which, as this study demonstrates, is associated with greater asthma risk.

The researchers propose that while genetic risk factors probably predispose some children to developing asthma, RSV infection during the winter may be the environmental trigger that activates those asthma risk genes. If so, this suggests that preventing RSV infection in newborns could prevent them from developing asthma.

So should you call your child’s pediatrician and ask for an RSV vaccine shot? Unfortunately, no such vaccine yet exits, but several pharmaceutical companies have RSV vaccines in development. There is a drug called Synagis (palivizumab) that provides passive immunity against RSV but it must be administered monthly at a cost of around $2000 per dose and it is usually reserved for babies at high risk of RSV complications (such as those born premature).

For now, parents of newborns born in autumn should take precautions to try to prevent spreading RSV infection to their baby. A simple way to help prevent RSV infection is to wash your hands often, especially before touching your baby. Other tips for RSV prevention include insisting that others wash their hands before touching your baby, keeping people with colds or fevers away from your baby, avoiding contact with other young children, and making sure your baby is not exposed to tobacco smoke.

For more information on asthma, see the Healia Health Guide on Asthma or ask the online community at the Healia Health Community for Asthma. If you have asthma and your symptoms worsen during the wintertime, you may be able to better control your asthma symptoms. See the Healia Health Guide on Uncontrolled Asthma for more details.

 

_{Photo: Havenga, Stock.xchng, Creative Commons}

How dangerous is the chemical known as bisphenol A (BPA)? According to an independent panel of scientific advisers, it’s much more dangerous than a recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) report suggested.

BPA is a chemical used to harden plastics and is found in several products including baby bottles, plastic food packaging, and the lining of food cans.

The panel charges that the FDA ignored scientific evidence and used flawed methods when it issued its draft risk assessment of BPA in August stating that an “adequate margin of safety” existed for BPA exposure. The FDA stated that the small amounts of BPA that migrate from food containers into the food they hold are not dangerous to infants or adults.

The panel, set up specifically to review the FDA's risk assessment of BPA, said that the FDA had relied on industry-funded studies and ignored a mountain of data including more than 100 scientific studies that have linked BPA to health problems in laboratory animals including breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, hyperactivity and reproductive problems. The panel also questioned the methods used in the FDA studies to determine the levels of BPA in infant formula, concluding that the FDA report "creates a false sense of security” and recommending that the agency redo its risk assessment.

Environmental groups want to ban BPA in infant products because the chemical can mimic the effects of the hormone estrogen and interfere with their development. Infants may be at increased risk of exposure because their kidneys do not eliminate the chemical from the body as fast as adults. Babies can be exposed to BPA through bottles and through baby formula packaged in containers made with the chemical, including cans.

If you want to lessen your family’s exposure to BPA, you can avoid eating foods from plastic containers labeled with the number 7 (usually found on the bottom of the container, inside the recycle symbol), which often contain BPA. You can also limit your use of canned foods and infant formula, most of which come in cans lined with BPA.

Have more questions about BPA and other food contaminants? The members and health experts of Healia Health Communities are waiting to help you.

 

_{Photo: iMorpheus, Flickr, Creative Commons}

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have published an article warning consumers to limit consumption of energy drinks that contain high levels of caffeine. The researchers reported that some energy drinks can contain many times the amount of caffeine as a regular cola drink. As a result, they recommend energy drinks carry a warning label that shows their caffeine content and includes information about possible health risks.

Because caffeinated energy drinks are marketed as supplements and not as regular soft drinks, they are not required to display their caffeine content and are not subject to the Food and Drug Administration's regulations regarding caffeine content in beverages.

Excessive caffeine consumption may result in fast heart rates (tachycardia), nausea and vomiting, difficulty sleeping, increased urination, anxiety, tremors, and depression.

Given that many high energy drinks are being marketed to children and young people, it’s important to be aware of how much caffeine your children are consuming. In addition, because caffeine acts as an appetite suppressant, children may not be getting proper nutrition.

Join Healia’s Diet and Nutrition Community to learn more about this and other nutrition issues.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning to avoid any infant formula imported from China because of potential contamination with melamine. Melamine was the chemical that contaminated pet food last year, resulting in thousands of poisoning cases in dogs and cats. There is no evidence that any tainted formula is being sold in the U.S. In China, the implicated formula has been associated with dozens of cases of kidney stones in infants and one death.

Manufacturing of baby formula is strictly regulated in the U.S. and it is illegal to import baby milk from China or any unapproved sources. But several years ago, in at least one case, a Chinese brand of formula was found in a New York store.

To be safe, parents should only purchase infant formula from reputable retail sources.

Have questions about about infant formula? Healia Communities members can help.