Archive for adolescent medicine
Dealing with peer pressure: How to empower your teen
With every coming of age almost inevitably comes changing friendships, relationships, and social pressures. But gone are the days when it was considered best practice to tell young people to ignore their peers’ bad behavior or troubling situations. So what should you do? Here, social worker Nanci Ginty Butler, director of mental health services in ... Read More
Talking with – not at – young people about substance use
Teens and young adults using drugs and alcohol is not new. Neither is the challenge of speaking with them about the dangers and implications. However, what is changing are the substances young people are using, the ways they’re exposed to them. We’re also learning more about how drugs, alcohol, and nicotine affect growing bodies and ... Read More
Teens, anxiety, and depression: How worried should parents be?
Part of the work of being a teenager is making connections outside of the family and becoming attuned to world issues. But add social media, an ongoing pandemic, and academic and extracurricular pressures to the mix, and teens can become vulnerable to mental health issues. “Anxiety and depression are the most common mental health concerns ... Read More
Regular physical activity linked to more ‘fit’ preteen brains
We know exercise has many health benefits. A new study from Boston Children’s Hospital adds another benefit: Physical activity appears to help organize children’s developing brains. The study, led by Dr. Caterina Stamoulis, analyzed brain imaging data from nearly 6,000 9- and 10-year-olds. It found that physical activity was associated with more efficiently organized, robust, ... Read More
Suicide prevention in teens: Can we intervene through primary care?
The past year has seen a disturbing rise in suicidal thoughts and attempts among adolescents, with a spike of suicidal teens going to emergency departments (EDs). This adds to a growing trend: From 2007 to 2016, ED visits for deliberate self-harm more than quadrupled nationwide among children age 5 to 17. In a recent review ... Read More
COVID-19 takes its toll on kids’ mental health
As experts warn that increasing behavioral and mental health challenges could represent a “second wave” of the pandemic in kids and teens, a recent study suggests that hospitalizations for self-harm and suicide attempts show no signs of ebbing. According to a study from Boston Children’s Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, ... Read More
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
The COVID-19 vaccine for kids: When will children be vaccinated?
In late 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave emergency use authorization to two COVID-19 vaccines — one from Pfizer/BioNTech, the other from Moderna. Other vaccines are expected to be authorized soon. Currently the Pfizer vaccine can be given to people ages 16 years and older; Moderna’s is for use in those 18 ... Read More
As COVID-19 fuels opioid deaths, researchers look to create an anti-opioid vaccine
A project that began one year ago at Boston Children’s Hospital to develop an anti-opioid vaccine is starting to bear its first fruits. A team of addiction experts and vaccine developers across the Boston Children’s research community were recently awarded a $25 million research contract from the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH ... Read More