Pediatrics
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of nurse home visiting on maternal and child functioning: age-9 follow-up of a randomized trial.
Our goal was to test the effect of prenatal and infancy home visits by nurses on mothers' fertility and children's functioning 7 years after the program ended at child age 2. ⋯ By child age 9, the program reduced women's rates of subsequent births, increased the intervals between the births of first and second children, increased the stability of their relationships with partners, facilitated children's academic adjustment to elementary school, and seems to have reduced childhood mortality from preventable causes.
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The National Residency Matching Program allows match participants to recruit each other and try to influence future ranking decisions in their favor, but it also states that participants "must not make statements implying commitment." The National Residency Matching Program cautions against statements such as, "We plan to rank you very highly on our list," because they can be misinterpreted as an informal commitment. To avoid issues around miscommunication, the University of Washington Pediatric Residency Program instituted a postinterview no-call policy with applicants. The purpose of this study was to determine this policy's impact on applicants. ⋯ We identified a vulnerable applicant population whose rank lists are potentially influenced by questionable postinterview communication from residency programs. To protect the integrity and fairness of the match, we call for more explicit guidelines regarding postinterview communication with applicants.
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Multicenter Study Controlled Clinical Trial
Healthy Buddies: a novel, peer-led health promotion program for the prevention of obesity and eating disorders in children in elementary school.
We designed and tested a novel health promotion program for elementary schools that was based on peer teaching from older to younger schoolchildren ("Healthy Buddies"). ⋯ Our student-led curriculum improved knowledge not only in older schoolchildren but also in their younger buddies. It also decreased weight velocity in the older students. Student-led teaching may be an efficient, easy-to-implement way of promoting a healthy lifestyle from kindergarten to 7th grade.
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We investigated whether very low birth weight (<1500 g) is associated with the risk of sleep-disordered breathing in young adulthood. ⋯ Premature infants with very low birth weight have a twofold risk of sleep-disordered breathing as young adults. In addition, maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of sleep-disordered breathing by more than twofold.