Top-of-head concussions are more severe

A study claims that concussions on the top of a person's head have a higher level of severity than other concussions.

As we head into the start of the new school year, many young people will begin signing up for the football team. Though team sports are a great way for kids to boost their self-esteem and increase physical activity, there are certain risks involved with contact sports, including concussions. Now, a recent study from the American Academy of Pediatrics investigates how the location of impact could affect concussion severity.

Prior to this study, published in the journal Pediatrics, very little research had focused on how location of impact on the head could yield differentconcussion outcomes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a concussion is a traumatic brain injury(TBI) that is the result of a bump, blow or jolt to the head that can change how the brain normally works.

To investigate further, researchers used data from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study to calculate rates and circumstances of concussions that occurred during football as a result of player-to-player collisions.

The team observed that most concussions of this type (44.7%) occurred on the front of the head, while 22.3% occurred on the side of the head. Based on where the impact occurred, the number and type of symptoms, symptom resolution time, and length of time before returning to play did not vary significantly.

But the data revealed that more football players whose concussions resulted from top-of-head impacts lost consciousness than those whose impacts were located elsewhere on the head.

In detail, 8% of players with top-of-head concussions experienced loss of consciousness, compared with only 3.5% of those with impacts on other areas.

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CDC's Heads Up app helps to spot symptoms of concussions in children

Summer concussions are from falls and accidents. I see many water sport induced brain injuries.

 If your child is not right, trust your instincts. Trust your child if they feel they are not right. See a physician! - JR

An app created by the CDC helps to spot symptoms of concussions in children.

Need a primer on how to spot the signs of a concussion for your child? The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention's Heads Up app will help you learn how to recognize the signs and symptoms, and what to do if you think a child has a concussion or other serious brain injury.

This is crucial information that you can find easily in the app to act quickly if needed. Children and teen athletes are more susceptible to concussion than older athletes, and they have an increased risk compared to adults for traumatic brain injury with greater severity and prolonged recovery due to their developing brains.

The app says that signs and symptoms generally appear soon after an injury, but the seriousness of the injury and some symptoms may not appear for hours or days. In rare cases of a hematoma (a collection of blood in the brain), you would need to take your child immediately to the emergency room. If a child does suffer from a concussion, there is information on recovery, such as when to return to school and sports.

This app can also help you pick the right helmet for your child's activity, including what to look for and what to avoid. For example, you can choose hockey to find out about the correct size and fit, tips for finding a good helmet, and how long it should last.

Besides sports, there are safety tips to prevent brain injuries at home, playground, cars, homes, and bikes.

Lastly, the CDC encourages to share information on concussions with others. In May, President Obama at the Healthy Kids and Safe Sports Concussion Summit called for the end of the culture in youth sports where kids are encouraged to “suck it up” after sustaining head injuries.

“We have to change a culture that says you suck it up,” said President. “Identifying a concussion and being able to self-diagnose that this is something that I need to take care of doesn’t make you weak - it means you’re strong.”

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Increase in autism diagnosis rates since 2000

The CDC has found a steady increase in autism diagnosis rates since 2000. Reasons for this are unknown, but may be due to increased awareness.

Autism rates in children have continued their steady rise, surging 30 percent in two years, according to the latest data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While 1 in 88 children were estimated to have autism in 2008, public health officials now estimate that 1 in 68 children are on the autism spectrum.

Those statistics are based on the 2010 medical records of 8-year-olds living in 11 communities throughout the United States that are part of the CDC’s autism surveillance network. When the CDC started its surveillance of these communities back in 2000, the incidence of autism was 1 in 150 children.

CDC officials couldn’t offer specific reasons for the rise beyond increased awareness of the condition among doctors, teachers, and parents. “It may be that we’re getting better at identifying autism,” said Coleen Boyle, director of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, during a press briefing. “We do feel like some of this has to do with how children are identified, diagnosed, and served in their communities.”

Autism advocacy groups noted that the increasing prevalence underscores the need for research funding to identify the causes of autism. “To be perfectly frank, it’s an incomplete picture right now,” said Robert Ring, chief science officer at Autism Speaks, a research advocacy organization in New York City. “All the pieces of the puzzle aren’t in place.”

Certain trends have remained constant during the decade that the CDC has been collecting data. Autism remains five times more common in boys — affecting 1 in 42 compared with 1 in 189 girls — and white children are more likely to be diagnosed than black or Hispanic children, though the prevalence in those minority groups has risen at a faster rate than for whites.

About half of children with autism in 2010 had average or above-average intelligence, compared with a third in 2002.

“We now recognize that autism is a spectrum,” said Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, chief of the CDC’s developmental disabilities branch. “Our understanding has evolved to the point that we understand that there are children with higher IQs who may not have been receiving services in the past.”

The CDC provided grants to 11 states across the country — including Arizona, Arkansas, Maryland, and Wisconsin — based on their ability to survey medical and school records for pediatric autism diagnoses. Massachusetts is not one of the sites providing data to the federal government.

Autism rates varied widely among the 11 areas under CDC surveillance. In Alabama, only 1 in 175 children had autism in 2010 compared with 1 in 45 children in New Jersey.

That difference could reflect varying access to expensive autism assessments and therapies among states. New Jersey mandated in 2010 that insurance companies must cover $36,000 per year in behavioral programs and other autism therapies for any person under age 21 who is diagnosed with the disorder. Alabama didn’t pass a coverage mandate until 2012. A Massachusetts coverage law took effect in 2011, and more than 30 other states instituted such laws as well.

Some children with behavioral or intellectual disabilities other than autism may receive the diagnosis from their doctors in order to qualify them for coverage for treatments that could benefit them too, said Dr. Sarah Spence, codirector of Boston Children Hospital’s Autism Spectrum Center. “Kids may get labeled with autism disorder because that’s the best way for them to get services, but I don’t think this overdiagnosis is a huge piece of the rising incidence.”

More likely, doctors have become more attuned to early signs of autism in toddlers and preschoolers, such as failure to make eye contact, smile, or express emotional attachments to their caregivers. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that health care providers conduct autism screening tests at every well-child visit.

“Doctors are getting better at doing these screenings,” Spence said, “to the point where every once in a while, I can happily tell parents that their child’s language delay isn’t autism.”

Despite this increased awareness, the average age at which a child is diagnosed hasn’t budged much; most children aren’t diagnosed until after 4 years of age, according to the CDC, two years after signs of the disorder usually start to appear.

“Research suggests that the earlier we intervene with treatment, the greater the probability that children will realize their full potential,” Ring said.

In an effort to get children diagnosed earlier, the US Department of Health and Human Services revealed an educational campaign on Thursday to make parents, teachers, and health care providers even more aware of early autism signs. Parents are advised to look for certain expected milestones in their child’s development, such as developing a fear of strangers, responding to other people’s emotions, and looking in the mirror by age 6 to 9 months.

One problem, however, that still remains unaddressed is the lack of behavioral specialists to assess and treat the growing population of children displaying signs of autism.

“The wait lists in Boston for assessment and treatment are too long,” Spence said, “and that’s unacceptable because every month counts when it comes to starting therapy.”

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CDC claims 1 in 10 children has ADHD

A new poll by the CDC shows that 1 in every 10 children has ADHD. This is higher than the last poll done in 2007 showing ADHD cases are rising.

One in every 10 U.S. children has been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but the steady rise in cases has started to slow, a new government survey shows.

The 2011 poll of more than 95,000 parents showed that about 11 percent -- or about 6.4 million -- of children aged 4 to 17 had been diagnosed with ADHD. That's up from a 2007 survey that found that 9.5 percent of youngsters in that age group had an ADHD diagnoses.

Nearly one in every five high-school age boys, and about one in every 11 high school age girls, was reported by their parents as being diagnosed with having ADHD, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report found.

Numbers also varied widely between states, as well, with 15 percent of children in Arkansas and Kentucky reporting a history of ADHD treatment, compared to just 4 percent of those in Nevada.

The number of children placed on ADHD medications -- which include stimulants such as Ritalin or Concerta -- also rose by about 1 million between 2003-04 and 2011-12, the CDC said. That means that more than 3.5 million youngsters between the ages of 4 and 17 are now taking an ADHD drug.

The survey was published Nov. 22 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

According to the survey, half of children with ADHD are diagnosed with the disorder by the age of 6.

"This finding suggests that there are a large number of young children who could benefit from the early initiation of behavioral therapy, which is recommended as the first-line treatment for preschool children with ADHD," study author and CDC researcher Susanna Visser said in a journal news release.

Not every child with ADHD is getting proper treatment, the study found. According to the survey, 18 percent of kids with ADHD had not received either psychiatric counseling or drug therapy during 2011-2012.

"This finding raises concerns about whether these children and their families are receiving needed services," Dr. Michael Lu, senior administrator at the U.S. Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA), said in the journal news release.

There was some good news from the survey, however. The CDC noted that ADHD diagnoses among American children were rising at a rate of about 6 percent a year in the mid-2000s, but that rate slowed to 4 percent a year from 2007 to 2011.

Visser told the Associated Press that this slower rate of diagnoses might reflect that doctors are closer to identifying most of the youngsters with the disorder.

ADHD makes it difficult for kids to pay attention and control impulsive behaviors. Treatments can include drugs, behavioral therapy or both.

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CDC's report on sleeping pills

This article discusses the recent report by the CDC on sleep pill usage that showed 4% of adults have used sleep aids in the past month, that more older people use sleeping aids, and that more women than men use sleep aids.

A new study shows that many Americans continually look to sleep aids in order to get a good night's rest. In fact, around 4 percent of Americans use prescription sleep aids, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). Yet many still question the drug's side effects and effectiveness.

A national survey between 2005 and 2010 showed that about 4 percent of adults ages 20 and over reported taking prescription sleep aids in the past 30 days. Approximately 2 percent of the younger age group, 20 to 39, reported using sleeping pills, while 6 percent ranging in age from 50 to 59 reported using them. Ages 80 and up reported a 7 percent use.

The study showed that the rate of use also depended on gender, race and ethnicity. For instance, about 5 percent of women used prescription sleep aids compared to about 3 percent of men. While adults were also more likely to use sleep aids than black or Mexican-American men.

"More authorities think that use of sleeping pills should be minimized," said Dr. Daniel Kripke, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, via Live Science.

Prescription sleep aids can be used as a treatment for those who have trouble falling asleep as many of the medications can work by suppressing activities in the nervous system. In fact, some estimates show that 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders or deprivation. This problem can greatly harm their daily function and may also adversely affect their health, according to CDC researchers.

Researchers looked at 33,000 people to find that the use of common sleep medications caused a greater risk of dying prematurely and even some type of cancer.

The CDC survey showed that when people slept for durations of greater or less than 7 hours, sleep aids use often increased. As for people who slept less than five hours a day, they were more likely to sleep nine hours a day and had the highest use of prescription sleep aid compared to those who reported getting seven hours a day.

Findings also showed that one in six people were diagnosed with a sleep disorder and up to one in eight reported problems with sleep. However, it's not clear whether the medications are effective at helping patients get a good night's rest or helping them feel refreshed in the morning.

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Information on SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy)

The following information on SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) was provided by the CDC and gives risk factors of SUDEP and how to lower your risk.

For some people living with epilepsy, the risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) is an important concern. SUDEP refers to such deaths in people with epilepsy that are not caused by injury, drowning, or other known causes.1

It is likely that most, but not all, cases of SUDEP occur during or immediately after a seizure.  The exact cause is not fully known or understood, but theories exist as to why SUDEP occurs.1-4

• Breathing. A seizure may cause a person to have pauses in breathing (apnea).  If these pauses last too long, they can reduce the oxygen in the blood to a life-threatening level.  In addition, during a convulsive seizure a person’s airway sometimes may get covered or obstructed, leading to suffocation.
• Heart Rhythm. Rarely, a seizure may cause a dangerous heart rhythm or even cardiac arrest.
• Other Causes and Mixed Causes. SUDEP may result from more than one cause or a combination involving both breathing difficulty and abnormal heart rhythm.

Risk Factors for SUDEP

Estimates of SUDEP risk vary, but general population studies suggests that each year there is about 1 case of SUDEP for every 1,000 people with epilepsy.2 For some, this risk can be considerably higher, depending on several factors identified by researchers such as:

• Uncontrolled or frequent seizures.1
• Generalized convulsive (tonic-clonic or “grand mal”) seizures.1

Other possible risk factors may include the following:

• Long duration of epilepsy and young age when seizures started.2
• Not taking antiepileptic medication regularly as prescribed.4
• Alcohol use.1

Steps to Reduce the Risk of SUDEP

If you have epilepsy, ask your doctor to discuss your risk of SUDEP with you. The first and most important step to reduce your risk of SUDEP is to regularly take your seizure medication as prescribed. If you are taking seizure medication and are still having seizures, discuss options for adjusting the medication with your doctor. If seizures continue, consider consulting an epilepsy specialist, if you are not already seeing a specialist. Other possible steps to reduce the risk of SUDEP might include:

• Avoid seizure triggers, if these are known.2 Read more information about seizure triggers.
• Avoid excessive alcohol use.1
• Avoid sleep deprivation.1

If you have uncontrolled epilepsy, talk with your doctor about other possible ways to reduce your risk of SUDEP. If necessary, other ways to reduce risk might include having adults in the household trained in first aid for epilepsy seizures.

How Do I Talk to My Doctor About SUDEP?

When you decide to talk with your doctor about SUDEP, possible questions to ask the following:

• What is my risk for SUDEP?
• If my risk of SUDEP is increased, what can I do to reduce my risk?
• What should I do if I forget to take my anti-epileptic drug (AED)?
• What steps should I take if it is decided to change my seizure medication?
• What medications provide the best seizure control for me?
• Are there any specific activities I should avoid?
• What instructions should I give my family and friends if I have a seizure?

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CDC study shows Autism is not caused by too many vaccines

The idea that 'too many vaccines too soon' causes autism has been proven false by research done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although scientific evidence suggests that vaccines do not cause autism, approximately one-third of parents continue to express concern that they do; nearly 1 in 10 parents refuse or delay vaccinations because they believe it is safer than following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) schedule. A primary concern is the number of vaccines administered, both on a single day and cumulatively over the first 2 years of life. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers concluded that there is no association between receiving "too many vaccines too soon" and autism.

Dr. Frank DeStefano and colleagues from the CDC and Abt Associates, Inc. analyzed data from 256 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 752 children without ASD (born from 1994-1999) from 3 managed care organizations. They looked at each child's cumulative exposure to antigens, the substances in vaccines that cause the body's immune system to produce antibodies to fight disease, and the maximum number of antigens each child received in a single day of vaccination.

The researchers determined the total antigen numbers by adding the number of different antigens in all vaccines each child received in one day, as well as all vaccines each child received up to 2 years of age. The authors found that the total antigens from vaccines received by age 2 years, or the maximum number received on a single day, was the same between children with and without ASD. Furthermore, when comparing antigen numbers, no relationship was found when they evaluated the sub-categories of autistic disorder and ASD with regression.

Although the current routine childhood vaccine schedule contains more vaccines than the schedule in the late 1990s, the maximum number of antigens that a child could be exposed to by 2 years of age in 2013 is 315, compared with several thousand in the late 1990s. Because different types of vaccines contain varying amounts of antigens, this research acknowledged that merely counting the number of vaccines received does not adequately account for how different vaccines and vaccine combinations stimulate the immune system. For example, the older whole cell pertussis vaccine causes the production of about 3000 different antibodies, whereas the newer acellular pertussis vaccine causes the production of 6 or fewer different antibodies.

An infant's immune system is capable of responding to a large amount of immunologic stimuli and, from time of birth, infants are exposed to hundreds of viruses and countless antigens outside of vaccination. According to the authors, "The possibility that immunological stimulation from vaccines during the first 1 or 2 years of life could be related to the development of ASD is not well-supported by what is known about the neurobiology of ASDs." In 2004, a comprehensive review by the Institute of Medicine concluded that there is not a causal relationship between certain vaccine types and autism, and this study supports that conclusion.

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CDC claims one in 50 school-aged children has Autism

The CDC claims that currently, 1 in 50 school-aged children has autism. This is a huge jump from the rates seen in 2007.

The number of children in the United States with autism spectrum disorder has jumped dramatically since 2007, federal health officials reported Wednesday.

As of 2012, one in 50 kids between the ages of 6 and 17 has some form of autism, compared with one in 88 only five years earlier, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This estimate was a bit surprising," said report author Stephen Blumberg, a senior scientist at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. "There may be more children with autism spectrum disorder than previously thought."

The average school bus holds about 50 children, so there is typically one child with autism spectrum disorder on every full school bus in America, Blumberg noted.

Michael Rosanoff, associate director for Public Health Research and Scientific Review at Autism Speaks, said that "this study added to the evidence suggesting that we are underestimating the prevalence of autism in the United States."

This report, however, underestimated the real prevalence of autism, Rosanoff said. "It's probably much higher," he said.

The main reason for the increase in the prevalence of autism appears to be better diagnoses, especially in older children, Blumberg said.

In addition, boys were more than four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls, which has been the historical trend, Blumberg said.

"For the most part, the increase in the prevalence is largely due to an increase in the prevalence in reported autism spectrum disorder for boys," he said.

None of the other factors, such as survey bias, could explain the increase, he added. Most of the children who were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder were diagnosed since the last survey in 2008, Blumberg noted.

"By ruling out other explanations and noting the increase in recent diagnoses, that suggests to us that improved ascertainment -- recognizing children who were previously unrecognized as having autism spectrum disorder -- is the reason," he said.

This may be the reason most of those newly diagnosed children tend to have milder forms of autism, Blumberg said.

"It would certainly make sense that those with unrecognized autism spectrum disorder may have symptoms that are milder than children who have been diagnosed earlier," he said.

Rosanoff agreed that more children with milder autism are being diagnosed.

"What we are seeing is that children who have not been diagnosed in the past are now being diagnosed," he said. "That is likely due to doctors and other health care providers being better at recognizing the more milder symptoms of autism and being able to diagnose those."

These children are most likely having trouble with social skills, which limits their ability to interact with others in the classroom and in social situations, Rosanoff said.

Diagnosing these children is important, Rosanoff said, because even though they may be doing well in the classroom they could benefit from help with their autism.

"With appropriate diagnosis and access to services, a child with autism can improve in the way they function and how they are able to be successful in life," he said.

To reach their conclusions, researchers gathered data from the National Survey of Children's Health, which is a national telephone survey of nearly 96,000 American households. As part of the survey, parents are asked whether they have a child diagnosed with autism.

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