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| In an April 19, 2001 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine is a report that concludes that for children younger than three years of age who have persistent otitis media, prompt insertion of tympanostomy tubes does not measurably improve developmental outcomes. The story, also reported in the April 18, 2001 issue of MSNBC.com also reinforces the problem with this procedure at an early age. The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery estimates that 700,000 children undergo the procedure each year at an estimated cost of $2,000 each. The tubes have been used since the early 1960s. The stated purpose that these tubes are inserted in the eardrums is supposedly to help clear the fluid that can build up in a child’s middle ear during an infection and to prevent further infections. Researchers in Pittsburgh looked at two groups of toddlers: those who got ear tubes after three months of fluid in their ears, the standard guideline, and those who waited up to nine months before tubes were inserted. The children were tested for speech, language, learning and behavior when they turned 3. The chief researcher, Dr. Jack L. Paradise of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, summed up the results as follows, “The bottom line was there wasn’t any difference in the developmental outcomes as best we could measure them at age 3.” Several chiropractic studies have suggested the benefits of chiropractic care for children with recurrent ear infections. An article published in the March 1998 edition of Alternative Therapies based on a study authored by Drs. Fallon and Edelman, concluded, "There is a strong correlation between chiropractic adjustment and the resolution of otitis media for the children in this study". |
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| For years parents have worried about their children getting fevers. And for years many authorities, including most chiropractors have said that fevers were a normal response of the body to certain situations. Now several health publications such as Mothering Magazine, WebMD and Reuters Health have reported in several 2001 issues about how fevers are a normal part of a child's defense system. However, according to a study in the June 2001 issue of the journal Pediatrics, parents fears and views about fevers have not changed significantly in 20 years. The author of the study, Dr. Michael Crocetti of John's Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, described parents misconceptions by stating, "In some parents' minds, childhood fevers are linked to the risk of brain damage, seizures, and even death. And this fever fear may result in parents over-medicating their children. These types of fears are most likely passed down from generation to generation, and if you look back over the centuries, fever was thought to be the worst thing that could happen to you." In the current study, Crocetti and his colleagues questioned 340 health care providers--including parents, grandparents and guardians--on their thoughts about childhood fevers and what to do about them. The researchers then compared their new findings with those from a similar study conducted 20 years ago. They found that 56% of participants in the current study were "very worried" about the potential harm of fever in their children, and 44% mistakenly believed that a temperature of 102 degrees Fahrenheit was a "high" fever. Paula Elbirt, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Mount Sinai Medical Center and School of Medicine, in New York says, "Fever is not a disease, it's a signal that the body is working to battle an invasion from bacteria or a virus. Far from a sign that something has gone horribly wrong, a fever can actually be an indication that the body is actively fighting illness." Dr Elbert elaborated by stating, "Fever signals the immune system to produce antibodies and, in fact, taking away a fever may even hamper the induction of the immune system to do its job. It's not necessarily a direct horror show if you take the fever down, but the fever can have a positive function." Elbirt concluded "Parents have to learn about the true meaning of fever and how to respond to it," "Fever is not 99° -- it's not even 100°. It's over 100.4° in a newborn or over 101° in an older child." The study also indicated that because of the fear of fever, parents and other caregivers are over-medicating children just because they are running a temperature. The research team found that 14% of parents gave acetaminophen and 44% gave ibuprofen at rates that were too frequent. "This practice increases the potential for toxicity from the medications," Crocetti added. He concluded, "It is going to take a real concerted effort on behalf of pediatricians and other healthcare providers to help parents understand what fever is and how to handle it." |
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| According to a Canadian study reported at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology, antibiotics and vaccines are the medicines that most often cause adverse reactions in children. "There is relatively little pediatric data on adverse reactions, which can range from rashes to potentially fatal hypersensitivity". More than 1,500 Canadian cases were reviewed between 1985 and 1995 by Sandra R. Knowles and her colleagues at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto. In all, 1,800 drugs were implicated in this study. The leading problems were caused from: Amoxicillin/Ampicillin with a 24% reaction rate, vaccines in general with a 19% reaction rate, Trimethoprim came in with 8%, Sulfamethoxazole (sulfa drug) at 8%, Erythromycin - was at 3%, and Penicillin also at 3% reaction rate. |
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| September 5, 2000 MSNBC reports that, "Infants who use pacifiers continuously after six months of age are at higher risk of ear infections, according to researchers." These finding come from the results of a study done on more than 400 Finnish children at the University of Oulu. The researchers estimate that between 75 percent and 85 percent of children in Western countries habitually use pacifiers. One possible reason given by the researchers for the link between pacifiers and ear infections was that the sucking on a pacifier may upset the air pressure in the ear therefore blocking proper drainage. “It is reasonable to assume that the effect may lie in an alteration in the pressure equilibrium between the middle ear cavity and the nasopharynx, which apparently impairs the functioning of the Eustachian tube,” The Eustachian tube is the passage that connects the back of the nose and the middle ear. It assists hearing and acts as a drain for the middle ear by opening when needed to regulate air pressure. If the Eustachian tube gets blocked it may prevent proper drainage and result in infections. The only recommendations given to the parents in the article by the researchers were to restrict pacifier use to the moments when older babies are falling asleep. |
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| Several articles in the February 2001 issue of the British Medical Journal discuss the actual benefits that childhood colds and infections play on developing a normal and healthy immune system. According to the articles, having many older siblings; attending day care at an early age; growing up on a farm and in frequent contact with cattle, poultry, and cats; and having childhood measles and infections such as hepatitis A are all helpful in promoting normal immunological maturation and in preventing disease. Additionally, repeated viral infections other than lower respiratory tract infections, early in life may reduce the risk of developing asthma up to school age. Another important conclusion of the article was that the risk of developing asthma by the age of 7 is reduced by about 50% percent in children with two or more reported episodes of common cold by the age of 1 year. These findings lead to the conclusion that children who fight a variety of normal childhood diseases develop strong and more potent immune systems. |
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