Sex steroid treatment changes HDL cholesterol levels in transgender youth
In an important study in transgender youth, researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital and colleagues have discovered that HDL cholesterol levels change within six months after starting gender-affirming medical treatment. HDL levels dropped an average 7 points in transmasculine patients and they rose by about 11 points in transfeminine youth. The HDL shifts do not indicate ... Read More
Neurological involvement common in kids and teens with acute COVID-19 and MIS-C
In the largest study of its kind, researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital found neurological involvement in 22 percent of children and adolescents hospitalized with acute COVID-19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). These symptoms included fatigue, headache, confusion, difficulty walking or crawling, or loss of taste and smell. However, 1 in 8 children with ... Read More
Is it MIS-C or severe COVID-19? An update on multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children
In May 2020, multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) was formally recognized as a post-infectious syndrome in children exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. In today’s JAMA, a study led by Boston Children’s Hospital refines the medical understanding of MIS-C. Its findings help distinguish this rare condition from severe, acute COVID-19 in children, with which it ... Read More
Tuber locations associated with infantile spasms map to a common brain network
About half of all babies with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) develop infantile spasms, a type of epilepsy that can have serious long-term neurologic consequences. Infantile spasms occur more often in children who have more brain tubers — groups of cells that do not divide into normal neurons and brain cells — but we haven’t known ... Read More
How does the placenta protect unborn babies from COVID-19?
Evidence has shown that pregnancy is a risk factor for severe illness in women with COVID-19. A recent CDC study reviewed case reports of approximately 400,000 women aged 15 to 44 with symptomatic COVID-19. Those who were pregnant had a roughly tripled likelihood of ICU admission and invasive ventilation and 70 percent higher mortality. Yet ... Read More
COVID-19 virus levels in children: Differences between asymptomatic vs. symptomatic kids
A new study finds that most asymptomatic children who tested positive for COVID-19 had lower levels of the virus compared to symptomatic children. While it is the first large and comprehensive investigation of its kind in asymptomatic children, several important questions remain unanswered. Nira Pollock “Our study did show that asymptomatic children had lower viral ... Read More