Children and exercise.

Background: Exercise is widely understood to improve health outcomes in children and adolescents and to contribute to the prevention and management of many chronic conditions. Australian children are not currently meeting the recommended physical activity guidelines, and these habits are likely to extend into adulthood without intervention.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to provide general practitioners (GPs) with the tools to perform a basic exercise assessment with children and adolescents and an understanding of the core principles of exercise prescription for general and special paediatric populations.

The Effect of Impact Seizure on the Recovery of Children and Adolescents With Concussion: A Matched Case-Control Study.

Objective: Management of sport-related and recreation-related concussions (SRCs) in children and adolescents is challenging as brain maturation affects prognosis. However, impact seizure was removed as a prognosis modifying factor in children and adolescents with SRCs in the 2017 consensus statement on concussion in sport, based mostly on adult literature. Therefore, this study evaluates the association of impact seizure on the recovery in children and adolescents with SRCs.

Risk of impaired school performance in children hospitalized with concussion: a population-based matched cohort study.

Aim: To examine the impact of concussion on objective measures of school performance.

Materials & Methods: Population-based matched cohort study using linked health and education records of young people aged ≤18 years hospitalized with concussion in New South Wales, Australia, during 2005-2018, and matched comparisons not hospitalized with any injury.

Results: Young people with concussion had higher risk of not achieving the national minimum standards for literacy and numeracy assessments, ranging from 30% for numeracy to 43% for spelling, and not completing high school, ranging from 29% for year 10 to 77% for year 12, compared with matched peers.

The Utility of Melatonin for the Treatment of Sleep Disturbance After Traumatic Brain Injury: A Scoping Review.

Objective: To investigate the utility of melatonin supplementation as a treatment option for individuals with sleep disturbance after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Data Sources: A systematic search was conducted in 6 electronic databases (Medline, AMED, CINAHL, Embase, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus) from earliest records to April 2022.

Study Selection: Studies were eligible for inclusion if they met the following criteria: a) human participants with sleep disturbance after TBI, b) melatonin or melatonergic agent used as an intervention to treat sleep disturbance, and c) outcomes of melatonin administration reported.

Association of Sleep Disturbance With Neurocognition, Symptom Severity, and Recovery in Pediatric Concussion: A 10-Year Retrospective Analysis of a Tertiary Referral Concussion Clinic.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between sleep disturbance, neurocognition, symptom severity, and recovery in children and adolescents with concussion. Sex-related comparisons were also examined.

Setting: Pediatric tertiary referral concussion clinic.

Greater symptom burden results in reduced exercise tolerance in adolescents following concussion.

Objectives: To explore the relationship between symptoms and exercise tolerance in adolescents following concussion.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of 417 adolescents who attended a concussion service between January 2015 and April 2021 was performed, with 149 meeting eligibility criteria for inclusion. Post-Concussion Symptom Scale (PCSS) and graded exercise tolerance time (min) were assessed at initial and follow-up visits.

Early injury evaluation following concussion is associated with improved recovery time in children and adolescents.

Objectives: Delayed treatment for paediatric concussion may impact recovery trajectory. This study aims to determine the relationship between time to evaluation and concussion recovery in children and adolescents.

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Association of Simple Step Test With Readiness for Exercise in Youth After Concussion.

Objectives: We hypothesized that a submaximal step test would be associated with readiness to commence graded exercise in children and adolescents with concussion.

Methods: Children and adolescents aged 8 to 18 years performed standard concussion clinical assessment for vestibular/ocular and balance impairment, and exercise examination utilizing the 3-minute Kasch Pulse Recovery test (KPR) and a symptom-limited graded exercise test (GXT). Outcome measures included activity readiness and symptom exacerbation.

Graded Exercise Testing Predicts Recovery Trajectory of Concussion in Children and Adolescents.

Objective: To determine whether graded exercise testing can predict recovery trajectory of concussion in children and adolescents.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: Children's Hospital, Westmead, Australia.

Incidence, costs, and temporal trends of sports injury-related hospitalisations in Australian children over a 10-year period: A nationwide population-based cohort study.

Objectives: To quantify and describe the incidence, cost, and temporal trends of sports injury-related hospitalisations in Australian children over a 10-year period.

Design: Retrospective population-based cohort study.

Methods: This study used linked hospitalisation and mortality data of children aged ≤16 years who were hospitalised for sports-related injury in Australia from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2012.

Concussive head injury in children and adolescents.

Background: Awareness of concussive head injury continues to grow, aided by greater understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of concussions and its short-term and long-term consequences. Younger players who are in the midst of their neurodevelopmental trajectory continue to be placed at risk; therefore, more must be done to educate clinicians, parents, coaches and players alike in this area. Our understanding of concussive injury is evolving and more integrated models of care are being developed so as to provide patients with the holistic model of care needed in the post-concussive context.

Common sports-related musculoskeletal injuries presenting to the emergency department.

Young athletes are specialising in sports at a younger age, placing the developing musculoskeletal system under considerable stress. Overuse injuries such as apophysitis are chronic in nature and account for a large proportion of musculoskeletal injuries suffered by young athletes; however, with an increased emphasis on success in sport, tendinopathy and fatigue fractures are now being reported with increasing frequency, in the adolescent population. Correct diagnosis and early protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation therapy is critical, along with supervised rehabilitation an expert in paediatric and adolescent sports medicine.

Primary cardiac arrest following sport or exertion in children presenting to an emergency department: chest compressions and early defibrillation can save lives, but is intravenous epinephrine always appropriate?

Objectives: The objective of this study was to describe the characteristics and outcome of pediatric patients presenting to an emergency department (ED) following out-of-hospital primary cardiac arrest (OHPCA), to determine if long-term survival is influenced by specific resuscitation interventions.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study of cases of OHPCA during sport or exertion in young patients presenting to an ED over a 5-year period. Cases were identified from a resuscitation database, which documented patient demographics, nature of event, emergency treatment, response times, and clinical progress.

The pulmonary index score as a clinical assessment tool for acute childhood asthma.

Background: Asthma in the pediatric population imposes a significant burden on the Australian health care system. The lack of a standardized asthma assessment tool is an area that needs to be addressed.

Objective: To validate the pulmonary index score (PIS) against the National Asthma Council Guidelines (NACG) asthma assessment.

The nature and characteristics of abdominal injuries sustained during children's sports.

Objective: To increase the evidence base by characterizing various features of pediatric sports-related abdominal injuries.

Design: A review of the trauma database at The Children's Hospital at Westmead was undertaken for all abdominal injuries presenting to the emergency department between 2001 and 2006.

Setting: The Children's Hospital at Westmead is a tertiary-level pediatric trauma center servicing Sydney's west.

Examination of triage nurse text narratives to identify sports injury cases in emergency department presentations.

Narrative text can be a useful means of identifying injury in routine data collections. An analysis of data from a near real-time emergency department surveillance system (NREDSS) in New South Wales (NSW, Australia) was conducted to determine if sports injuries can be identified from routine narrative text recorded in emergency departments. Around one-third of all emergency department (ED) presentations during 1 September 2003 to 15 February 2007 were identified as injury-related.

Face mask use and control of respiratory virus transmission in households.

Many countries are stockpiling face masks for use as a nonpharmaceutical intervention to control virus transmission during an influenza pandemic. We conducted a prospective cluster-randomized trial comparing surgical masks, non-fit-tested P2 masks, and no masks in prevention of influenza-like illness (ILI) in households. Mask use adherence was self-reported.

Bystander basic life support: an important link in the chain of survival for children suffering a drowning or near-drowning episode.

Eight children suffered drowning or near-drowning in Sydney pools over an 11-day period in January 2007. Four received basic life support (BLS) within 5 minutes of immersion and survived with good functional neurological outcomes. The other four were not discovered for >or= 5 minutes and all died.

Gamma-hydroxybutyrate poisoning from toy beads.

A 2-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl presented to the emergency department with a decreased level of consciousness. The girl had had persistent vomiting and a seizure. Urine metabolic screening tests were positive for gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB).

Are children with femoral fracture haemodynamically unstable?

Objective: To assess the occurrence of hypovolaemic shock in children who have sustained traumatic femoral fracture.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was performed on a cohort of children with traumatic femoral fracture presenting over a five and a half year period from 1 January 1996 to 1 July 2001. Selected parameters for analysis included administration of a fluid bolus, as well as all available vital signs within 4 h following injury relating to pulse, systolic blood pressure, respiratory rate, skin capillary refill time and mental status.

Traction splinting of femoral shaft fractures in a paediatric emergency department: time is of the essence?

Objective: To describe the use of traction splinting in children with femoral shaft fracture and to determine if timing of traction splinting application effects outcome.

Methods: A retrospective descriptive study conducted over a five and a half year period (1 January 1996 to 1 July 2001) on children presenting with femoral shaft fracture to a Paediatric trauma centre. Data were collected on all children with a radiological diagnosis of fracture to the femoral shaft.

Femoral nerve block for femoral shaft fractures in a paediatric Emergency Department: can it be done better?

Background: The relatively simple technique of administering a femoral nerve block is known to be quick, safe and effective in providing prolonged analgesia to children with femoral shaft fracture. Although medical literature supports its use in the emergency setting, no studies have been conducted on how this is undertaken in practice.

Objective: The aim of this study is to describe the practice of femoral nerve block in previously well children who present to our Emergency Department with femoral shaft fracture.

The administration of beta2-agonists for paediatric asthma and its adverse reaction in Australian and New Zealand emergency departments: a cross-sectional survey.

Aim: To determine the current use of beta2-agonists, in particular salbutamol, for the management of acute asthma in children in emergency departments throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire that sought to determine the current use of salbutamol and any adverse drug reactions in paediatric emergency departments.

Results: Out of 37 hospitals eligible as paediatric emergency departments, 33 (89.