A sprain on the soccer field. A tumble to the floor at home. Kids get injured, but as a parent, when’s the right time to bring them to a doctor or ER? Pediatric sports medicine and orthopedic physician Dr. Bianca Edison, of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, offers up guidance for worried moms and dads. First of all, she said, don’t assume that childhood injuries are seldom severe: Edison pointed to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, showing that nearly half (45%) of playground injuries involve fractures, dislocations, concussions and other harms serious enough to need urgent medical attention. She broke down child injuries into four types: head injuries, mouth/tooth injuries, fractures and eye injuries. Head injuries A knock to the noggin isn’t an uncommon event for rambunctious kids. But certain symptoms may signal that more than a hug is needed to help your child. “They include severe crankiness above and beyond what the child normally displays, multiple vomiting episodes, slurred speech, different pupil sizes and a sudden change in the way the child walks,” according to Edison. “These symptoms are of significant concern and need immediate medical attention.” There are certain metrics that can also help, especially when it comes to head injuries linked to falls. If the child is less than 2 years old and falls more than 3 feet, or is…  read on >  read on >

Cases of the autoimmune skin condition eczema appear to rise in areas most plagued by air pollution, new research shows. Since data has long shown that rates of eczema — clinically known as atopic dermatitis — increase along with industrialization, dirty air might be a connecting link, according to the team from Yale University. “Showing that individuals in the United States who are exposed to particulate matter [in air] are more likely to have eczema deepens our understanding of the important health implications of ambient air pollution,” wrote researchers led by Yale School of Medicine investigator Gloria Chen. Her team published its findings Nov. 13 in the journal PLOS ONE. According to the National Eczema Association, over 31 million Americans have the skin disorder, “a group of inflammatory skin conditions that cause itchiness, dry skin, rashes, scaly patches, blisters and skin infections.” The exact causes of eczema aren’t clear, but it’s thought to originate in an an overactive immune system that responds to certain environmental triggers. Could air pollution be one of those triggers? To find out, the Yale team looked at data on almost 287,000 Americans, about 12,700 of who (4.4%) had an eczema diagnosis. They compared local eczema rates against levels of air pollution in zip codes across the United States. Chen’s team focused especially on what’s known as “fine particulate matter” — microscopic bits…  read on >  read on >

Dementia strikes all races, but new research suggests thinking declines in poor seniors are often overlooked. Among a group of more than 200 low-income patients who were treated at community health centers, 3 of 4 had undiagnosed cognitive issues, researchers reported recently in the journal JAMA Network Open. Of those, 62% had mild cognitive impairment, which is a precursor to dementia, while 12% had full-blown undiagnosed dementia, results showed. Only 25% of the patients evaluated had no evidence of any cognitive decline, researchers found. “Unrecognized cognitive impairment and dementia present a serious challenge in the U.S. and worldwide, affecting patients, families and the health care system,” said lead researcher Dr. Ambar Kulshreshtha, an associate professor of family and preventive medicine at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. “Delayed diagnosis often means patients are identified at later stages, when symptoms are more severe and care is more complex,” Kulshreshtha added in an Emory news release. “It also leads to missed opportunities for early treatment that could slow disease progression.” For the study, researchers looked at seniors treated at federally qualified health centers, which are nonprofits serving low-income communities in the United States. About 30 million people receive care at these centers, and most have family incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level. Researchers assessed a group of 204 seniors who go to one of…  read on >  read on >

Most parents haven’t considered the potential risk of an unlocked, poorly stored firearm in a house their child is visiting, a new study shows. More than 60% of Illinois parents have never asked another parent about an unlocked gun in their home before allowing their child to visit for a playdate, researchers found. Most said they never asked because it didn’t occur to them to do so. “Parents need to approach the topic of firearm safety in the homes their child visits in the same way they would ask other parents about supervision during playdates or similar questions related to their child’s safety,” said lead researcher Dr. Samaa Kemal, an emergency medicine physician at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Nearly 20% of unintentional firearm-related deaths occur at a friend’s home, the researchers noted. About 40% of U.S. households with children have a firearm in the home, but only 44% of those households store firearms locked and unloaded, researchers said. “Parents need to ask about the presence of firearms in the home and about secure storage methods,” Kemal said in a hospital news release. “These discussions with other parents are crucial for prevention of children’s injury and death from improperly stored firearms.” For the study, researchers surveyed 1,000 Illinois parents. Parents were less likely to ask about firearms if they were female, older than 50, living…  read on >  read on >

The weight-loss drug Ozempic can help reduce stroke patients’ risk of a heart attack or death, a new study says. GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic or SGLT2 diabetes medications like Jardiance or Farxiga both helped protect the health of people following a stroke, researchers found. Patients taking either a GLP-1 or SGLT2 drug had a 74% lower risk of death and an 84% lower risk of a heart attack within an average three years after their stroke, results show. SGLT2 drugs also were associated with a 67% lower risk of a second stroke, researchers report. “Unfortunately, a quarter of people who survive a stroke will have another stroke, and they are also at risk for other cardiovascular events such as a heart attack since many of the risk factors of a stroke are also associated with other forms of heart disease,” said lead researcher Dr. Ali Sheffeh, an internal medicine physician and research scholar at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “Managing these risks, as well as looking at novel approaches to help lower the chances of another stroke, heart attack or death among this population are all critical steps in increasing stroke survival and improving the quality of life for people who have had a stroke,” Sheffeh added in a news release. For the study, researchers reviewed medical records for more than 7,000 adults…  read on >  read on >