Behavioral Interventions for Infant Sleep Problems: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of behavioral interventions on the sleep/wakefulness of infants, parent and infant stress, and later child emotional/behavioral problems, and parent-child attachment.

Methods: A total of 43 infants (6-16 months, 63% girls) were randomized to receive either graduated extinction (n = 14), bedtime fading (n = 15), or sleep education control (n = 14). Sleep measures included parent-reported sleep diaries and infant actigraphy.

Minimal change in children's lifestyle behaviours and adiposity following a home-based obesity intervention: results from a pilot study.

Background/methods: Families of overweight and obese children require support to make sustainable lifestyle changes to improve their child's diet and activity behaviours and in turn weight status. The aim of this pre-post intervention pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility of an individualised home-based intervention for treatment seeking overweight/obese 4-12 year olds and their caregivers. Baseline measures were used to develop a family-specific intervention to improve the quality of the home environment.

Visual evoked potential latencies of three-year-old children prenatally exposed to buprenorphine or methadone compared with non-opioid exposed children: The results of a longitudinal study.

This study compared the latency of pattern reversal visual evoked potentials (VEP) of 36-month old children exposed to opioid pharmacotherapy in utero to that of a group of non-exposed children. Pregnant women were enrolled as part of an open-label non-randomised flexible dosing longitudinal study. Participants were 21 children whose mothers were treated with buprenorphine- (n=11) or methadone-pharmacotherapy (n=10) during pregnancy, and 15 children not exposed to opioids in pregnancy.

South Australian four-year-old Aboriginal children: residence and socioeconomic status influence weight.

Objective: Obesity rates have increased in children in Australia in the past 15 years. However, there is little available population data describing rates of overweight and obesity in Aboriginal children.

Methods: Anthropometric data of four-year-old children (n=11,859) were collected by trained nurses at routine statewide preschool health checks during 2009.

The effects of prenatal exposure to buprenorphine or methadone on infant visual evoked potentials.

This study compared the neurological development of 4 month old infants exposed to buprenorphine or methadone during pregnancy to that of a control group of non-exposed infants. Participants were 30 buprenorphine-maintained women, 22 methadone-maintained women and 33 non opioid-dependent controls, and their infants. Women were enrolled during pregnancy as part of an open-label non-randomised flexible-dosing longitudinal study.

Relationships between the home environment and physical activity and dietary patterns of preschool children: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: To assess relationships between characteristics of the home environment and preschool children's physical activity and dietary patterns.

Methods: Homes of 280 preschool children were visited and information obtained by direct observation and parent interview regarding physical and nutritional characteristics of the home environment. Children's physical activity, sedentary behaviour and dietary patterns were measured using standardised parent-report questionnaires.

Effect of iron supplementation during pregnancy on the behaviour of children at early school age: long-term follow-up of a randomised controlled trial.

Although routine Fe supplementation in pregnancy is a common practice, its clinical benefits or risks are uncertain. Children born to mothers in the Fe group in a trial of Fe supplementation in pregnancy have been found to have a significantly higher risk of abnormal behaviour at 4 years of age than those born to mothers in the placebo group. The objective of the present study therefore was to determine whether Fe supplementation in pregnancy influences child behaviour at early school age.

Recognition and management of childhood overweight and obesity by clinicians.

Aim: (i) To determine the ability of general practitioners (GPs) and paediatricians to correctly identify children as overweight or obese by visual cues alone; (ii) to describe the current management practices of overweight and obese children by these practitioners; and (iii) to compare these with National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Methods: Forty-four GPs and 29 paediatricians participated in the study. Respondents completed a questionnaire based on a series of body images, rating the size of the child as acceptable weight, overweight or obese and indicating the likelihood of carrying out a series of management options.

New measure of parental asthma management for school-age children.

A new parent-completed questionnaire to measure parental asthma management was developed. The new questionnaire takes a parental perspective, with content of items and scoring focusing on all behaviors considered important by parents and not just those considered appropriate by clinicians. Parents of 101 school-age children with a previous hospital admission with asthma completed the questionnaire during home visits.

Prevalent use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with inflammatory eye disease.

Aim: To study complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use in patients who suffer from inflammatory eye disease.

Methods: Current and previous use of CAM was determined by face-to-face interviews of consecutive patients attending a university-based tertiary-referral inflammatory eye disease clinic during a 3-month period. Additional sociodemographic and clinical information was obtained by review of clinical records.

Socio-economic differentials in the health-related quality of life of Australian children: results of a national study.

Objective: To examine differences in health-related quality of life (HRQL) of children living in different socio-economic contexts in Australia.

Methods: Parental reports describing the HRQL and socio-economic status of a random national sample of 3,597 school-age children were obtained using the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) and a standardised socio-economic interview. Response rate was 70%.