Exercise after recovering from COVID-19, even in kids who had mild symptoms or no symptoms, can be risky, especially since the coronavirus can strike at the heart muscle. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends kids, including adolescents, who tested positive for the coronavirus in the past six months see their pediatrician before resuming physical activity….
Signs of leukemia in kids are also symptoms of other common childhood illnesses. Leukemia is the most common type of cancer in children –– 1 in 3 children with childhood cancer have leukemia. Many of the early signs of leukemia are similar to those of other common childhood conditions. Here are the signs of leukemia…
Erica Kelley was living in Arizona in 2007 when her son, Samuel, was born. Sam received his newborn screening before leaving the hospital, as is required in most states in the U.S. The screening indicated that Sam needed further testing, which showed that Sam has cystic fibrosis (CF). He was 15 days old when he…
Getting a life-changing diagnosis, such as cancer, can create fear, uncertainty and stress for a child and their family. Child life specialists are professionals who provide emotional support and education and help children and their families build resiliency while getting medical treatment. Certified child life specialists are educated and clinically trained in the developmental impact…
COVID-19 testing for kids is now fast and accurate — important considerations as children may need to show proof of a negative test before resuming many activities. Recent breakthroughs have made polymerase chain reaction (PCR) COVID-19 tests — the gold standard in coronavirus testing — available with nearly 100% accurate results that the equipment displays…
For Lauren Fitzmaurice of Owensboro, Kentucky, after 30 weeks of pregnancy, her due date was starting to seem like it was within reach. Pregnant with her second son, Miles, she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, prompting another ultrasound — all pretty normal stuff. But Lauren’s local OB/GYN noticed something not normal, an anomaly that needed…
Victoria A. Statler, M.D., works hard to educate children undergoing transplants on ways to avoid potentially dangerous infections. She also treats them when they do get sick. Children receiving transplanted organs or bone marrow take medicines to help their bodies accept the transplant. The drugs work by suppressing the immune system, so transplant recipients are…
Bleeding disorders are a rare group of conditions that affect blood clotting. The human body has 13 blood clotting factors — blood components such as clotting proteins and platelets — that work together to help blood clot. Should any of these clotting factors be missing or deficient, blood clotting is affected, causing a bleeding disorder….
If you notice blood in your toddler’s urine, it can be cause for concern. Blood in urine, called hematuria, is when the kidneys or other parts of the urinary tract allow blood to leak into urine. When should parents be concerned about blood in urine? What causes blood in urine? Hematuria, or blood in urine,…
Like a lot of future orthopedic surgeons, Joshua W. Meier, M.D., liked to build things growing up. What got him interested in becoming a surgeon wasn’t making model planes out of balsa wood or helping his father with home improvement projects, but a video game a friend let him borrow in high school. Set in…
Diagnosing a child with autism typically is a monthslong process involving multiple assessments, but for Black children the delay was found to average more than three years in a recent study. From the parents’ first concerns to a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the average length of time was 3.5 years with the children…
A pregnant patient’s race, social status, access to medical care and living conditions all can affect whether they are more likely to deliver a baby weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces (low birth weight), according to Scott D. Duncan, M.D., MHA, neonatologist with Norton Children’s Neonatology. According to the Centers for Disease Control and…