Prospective associations between neighborhood features and body mass index in Montreal adolescents.

Purpose: To investigate the association between the neighborhood built environment and trajectories of body mass index (BMI) in youth.

Methods: Data were collected in a prospective study of 1293 adolescents in Montreal. Built environment variables were obtained from public databases for road networks, land use, and the Canadian Census.

Feasibility, acceptability, and safety of a novel device for self-collecting capillary blood samples in clinical trials in the context of the pandemic and beyond.

Background: Home blood self-collection devices can enable remote monitoring, but their implementation requires validation. Our objectives were to explore (i) the impact of sampling sites and topical analgesia on capillary blood volume and pain perception and (ii) the safety, acceptability, and failure of capillary self-collection among adults and children using the Tasso-SST device.

Methods: We conducted a two-phase study.

Oscillometry to support clinical assessment in asthmatic preschoolers: Real-life impact.

In preschoolers, asthma control is assessed clinically using history and physical examination. In certain centres, oscillometry is used to support clinical assessment; yet its clinical utility for asthma management remains to be quantified. The objectives were to determine if oscillometry, as adjunct to clinical assessment, influences asthma assessment, management and control, compared to clinical assessment alone in preschoolers.

Concordance in COVID-19 serology, bone mineralization, and inflammatory analytes between venous and self-collected capillary blood samples exposed to various pre-analytical conditions.

Background: The COVID-19 has led to a significant increase in demand for remote blood sampling in clinical trials. This study aims to ascertain the concordance between venous versus capillary samples, processed immediately or exposed to various pre-analytical conditions.

Methods: Participants (≥12 years old) provided a venous blood sample (processed immediately) and capillary samples allocated to one of the following conditions: processed immediately or exposed to 12-, 24-, or 36-h delays at room temperature or 36-h delays with a freeze-thaw cycle.

Comparison of different severe obesity definitions in predicting future cardiometabolic risk in a longitudinal cohort of children.

Objectives: Severe obesity (SO) prevalence varies between reference curve-based definitions (WHO: ≥99th percentile, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): >1.2×95th percentile). Whether SO definitions differentially predict cardiometabolic disease risk is critical for proper clinical care and management but is unknown.

A comparative analysis of pediatric mental health-related emergency department utilization in Montréal, Canada, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Reports on longitudinal trends in mental health-related (MHR) emergency department (ED) utilization spanning the pre- and post-pandemic periods are lacking, along with evidence comparing healthcare services utilization by sociodemographic subgroups. The aim of this study was to evaluate COVID-19-associated changes in MHR ED utilization among youth overall and by age, sex, and socio-economic status (SES).

Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study analyzed MHR ED utilization before and during the COVID-19 pandemic at a large urban pediatric tertiary care hospital in Montréal, Canada.

Reference values for respiratory sinusoidal oscillometry in children aged 3 to 17 years.

Background: New oscillometry devices allowing quantification of respiratory function using tidal breathing are commercially available, but reference equations are lacking for the multiethnic Canadian pediatric population.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study of healthy children carefully selected for absence of asthma, atopy, tobacco smoke, obesity, prematurity, and recent respiratory infection. Triplicate measures were obtained of respiratory system resistance (Rrs) and reactance (Xrs), area under the reactance curve (AX) and resonant frequency (Fres) on four signals, whose testing order was randomized: two signals on the Resmon Pro Full (8 Hz and 5-11-19 Hz) and two signals on the tremoflo C-100 (5-37 Hz and 7-41 Hz).

Adherence to inhaled corticosteroids prescribed once vs twice daily in children with asthma.

Background: Suboptimal adherence to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) is associated with poor asthma control. Adult studies suggest that simplification of ICS regimen leads to better adherence.

Objective: We aimed to determine whether once-daily, compared with twice-daily, ICS dosing was associated with better adherence among children with asthma.

Tiotropium bromide as adjunct therapy in children with asthma: a clinical experience.

Background: The Global Initiative for Asthma has only recently added tiotropium bromide as adjunct controller therapy in severe asthma (Step 4 or 5) in adults (2015) and children (2019). Although not yet approved for pediatric use by Health Canada, it has been occasionally offered by asthma specialists as a therapeutic trial in children with troublesome asthma or treatment for adverse effects. The objective of this study was to describe the indications and real-life clinical experience in initiating tiotropium in children with asthma.

To Each Stress Its Own Screen: A Cross-Sectional Survey of the Patterns of Stress and Various Screen Uses in Relation to Self-Admitted Screen Addiction.

Background: The relationship between stress and screen addiction is often studied by exploring a single aspect of screen-related behavior in terms of maladaptive dependency or the risks associated with the content. Generally, little attention is given to the pattern of using different screens for different types of stressors, and variations arising from the subjective perception of stress and screen addiction are often neglected. Given that both addiction and stress are complex and multidimensional factors, we performed a multivariate analysis of the link between individual's subjective perceptions of screen addiction, various types of stress, and the pattern of screen usage.

[Infective endocarditis in the elderly: The current view of the problem].

The review gives the current views of the etiology and risk factors of infective endocarditis (IE) in the elderly. It reports the specific clinical picture of the disease at this age, including clinically apparent syndromes, comorbidity, and various clinical signs and peculiarities of IE. Particular emphasis is placed on the diagnosis of an endocardial infectious lesion, which is based on the use of the modified Duke criteria.