Publications by authors named "Ouldali N"

Background: Scurvy, historically rare in-high income countries, has re-emerged as an indicator of socioeconomic and dietary disparities. Limited data exist on scurvy trends among European children, particularly following socioeconomic changes since the COVID-19 pandemic. This study analysed scurvy incidence trends among French children over a nine-year period, examining potential post-pandemic increases.

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Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the seasonal transmission pattern of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), challenging the launch of palivizumab immunization campaigns. This study explored the performance of the moving epidemic method (MEM) to guide the launch of such campaigns.

Methods: Data were collected through a continuous RSV surveillance system (07/2013‒03/2022) in Québec, Canada.

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Objective: To investigate a dose-response relationship between the magnitude of decrease in pediatric respiratory tract infections (RTI) during the 2020 implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) and the rise thereafter during NPI lifting.

Study Design: We conducted an interrupted, time-series analysis, based on a multinational surveillance system. All patients <16 years of age coming to medical attention with various symptoms and signs of RTI at 25 pediatric emergency departments from 13 European countries between January 2018 and June 2022 were included.

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Importance: Mental disorders among the pediatric population are a major area of public health concern. Little is known regarding changes in pediatric hospital resource use related to mental health (MH) long after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.

Objective: To assess rates and trends of hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits related to MH and self-harm (SH) among children before and during the 3 years following the pandemic onset.

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Objective: To study the impact of nonpharmaceutical interventions implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic on the monthly incidence of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) cases overall and those with a viral or bacterial identification.

Study Design: We conducted an interrupted time-series analysis using seasonally adjusted Poisson regression models from the French national prospective and multicenter SUDI registry, that included all SUDI cases below the age of 1 year who died from 2016 to 2021 in mainland France.

Results: Of 998 SUDI cases analyzed, 750 were recorded during the prepandemic period (January 2016 through March 2020) and 248 during the NPI period (April 2020 through December 2021).

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study focused on acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) cases in children, specifically analyzing instances without cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis, a condition where CSF has elevated leukocyte counts.
  • - Out of 4,754 ABM cases from 2001 to 2022 in France, only 173 (3.6%) lacked CSF pleocytosis, with a significant majority linked to meningococcal infections, and these cases showed a higher mortality rate (18% vs. 6%).
  • - The research concluded that while ABM without CSF pleocytosis is rare, it is critical, especially for children who experience seizures before hospital admission, suggesting that increased meningoc
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Article Synopsis
  • The human immune system continues to develop for several years after birth, affecting how young children respond to infections, such as SARS-CoV-2.
  • Researchers studied T cell responses in children and adults before, during, and after SARS-CoV-2 infection, revealing that younger children (under 5) had a weaker CD4 T cell response compared to older children and adults with mild disease.
  • Following infection, preschool-age children produced similar neutralizing antibodies to adults but had different T cell characteristics and fewer memory B cells, indicating a gradual maturation of their adaptive immune responses.
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  • Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of lower respiratory infections in children, and a new monoclonal antibody, nirsevimab, was introduced in September 2023 to combat RSV.
  • A study was conducted on infants under 12 months old to evaluate the effectiveness of nirsevimab against RSV-bronchiolitis in outpatient settings, involving a comparison between RSV-positive and RSV-negative bronchiolitis patients.
  • The findings showed that nirsevimab reduced the risk of RSV-bronchiolitis by 79.7%, indicating its effectiveness in preventing this infection in young children during outpatient care.
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Article Synopsis
  • RSV is a major cause of bronchiolitis, leading to 3 million hospitalizations each year, and nirsevimab is a monoclonal antibody aimed at preventing severe RSV cases in infants.
  • A study compared infants hospitalized for RSV bronchiolitis with those visiting for unrelated reasons, assessing nirsevimab’s effectiveness in preventing hospitalizations in those under 12 months old.
  • Findings showed nirsevimab reduced hospitalization rates for RSV-associated bronchiolitis by 83% and critical care needs by about 70%, indicating it is an effective treatment option for vulnerable infants.
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Importance: Numerous studies have provided evidence for the negative associations of the COVID-19 pandemic with mental health, but data on the use of psychotropic medication in children and adolescents after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic are lacking.

Objective: To assess the rates and trends of psychotropic medication prescribing before and over the 2 years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in children and adolescents in France.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study used nationwide interrupted time-series analysis of outpatient drug dispensing data from the IQVIA X-ponent database.

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Importance: Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) is the most common type of vasculitis in children. The factors that trigger the disease are poorly understood. Although several viruses and seasonal bacterial infections have been associated with HSP, differentiating the specific associations of these pathogens with the onset of HSP remains a challenge due to their overlapping seasonal patterns.

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Article Synopsis
  • Juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (j-SLE) is a rare autoimmune disease affecting multiple organs, with neuropsychiatric involvement (j-NPSLE) leading to higher morbidity and mortality rates in affected youth.
  • *In a retrospective study of j-SLE patients, 44% were diagnosed with j-NPSLE, showcasing common symptoms such as cognitive issues, hallucinations, and mood disorders, with imaging revealing nonspecific brain changes.
  • *The study developed a risk score based on clinical features and cerebrospinal fluid analysis to improve the diagnosis and management of j-NPSLE, emphasizing the importance of early recognition and treatment.
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Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C or PIMS-TS) is a severe disease. N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is used for positive and differential diagnosis, diagnosis of complications and severity, and cardiogenic shock prediction. However, contrasting cut-offs have been suggested.

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Background: In France, vaccination has been implemented against Hi serotype b (Hib), pneumococcus with pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV), and Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C (MenC). These interventions with different coverage and uptake have disrupted the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable acute bacterial meningitis (ABM).

Methods: We analyzed data from a French prospective surveillance network of ABM in children ≤15 years old enrolled by 259 pediatric wards (estimated national coverage: 61%).

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Background: The value of formative objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) during the pre-clinical years of medical education remains unclear. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of a formative OSCE program for medical students in their pre-clinical years on subsequent performance in summative OSCE.

Methods: We conducted a non-randomized controlled prospective pilot study that included all medical students from the last year of the pre-clinical cycle of the Université Paris-Cité Medical School, France, in 2021.

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Using multiple national surveillance systems, we found an increase in the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease during after the relaxation of non-pharmaceutical interventions against COVID-19, which strongly varied by age. Age groups with higher incidence of respiratory syncytial virus and influenza also experienced higher increase in invasive pneumococcal disease incidence, with no change in pneumococcal carriage.

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(Hi) is one of the leading bacteria implicated in childhood acute otitis media (AOM). Recent concerns have been raised about the emergence of Hi-resistant strains. We aimed to analyze the evolution of β-lactam resistance to Hi among strains isolated from nasopharyngeal carriage in children with AOM and in mild ear fluid (MEF) after the spontaneous perforation of the tympanic membrane (SPTM) in France.

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Knowledge of infectious diseases and their treatments is constantly evolving. New infectious agents are regularly discovered, due mainly to improvement of identification techniques, especially the development of molecular biology and mass spectrometry. While changes in the epidemiology of infectious diseases are not always predictable or readily understood, several factors regularly enter into consideration, such as not only the natural history of diseases and the impact of vaccinations, but also the excessive and irrational use of antibiotics.

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Knowledge of infectious diseases and their treatments is constantly evolving. New infectious agents are regularly discovered, mainly due to improvement of identification techniques, especially the development of molecular biology and mass spectrometry. While changes in the epidemiology of infectious diseases are not always predictable or readily understood, several factors regularly enter into consideration, such as not only the natural history of diseases, the impact of vaccinations, but also the excessive and irrational use of antibiotics.

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Objective: To examine whether the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with an increased incidence of uveitis in children.

Study Design: We performed a time-series analysis of patient records from a national, hospital-based, French surveillance system. All children hospitalized for uveitis in France between January 2012 and March 2022 were included.

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Background: Acute chest syndrome (ACS) is a life-threatening complication of sickle cell disease (SCD). Although respiratory pathogens are frequently detected in children with ACS, their respective role in triggering the disease is still unclear. We hypothesized that the incidence of ACS followed the unprecedented population-level changes in respiratory pathogen dynamics after COVID-19-related nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).

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