Bubble Wrap PLUS – January 2024

Can’t get enough of Bubble Wrap? The Bubble Wrap Plus is a monthly paediatric Journal Club reading list from Professor Jaan Toelen (University Hospitals Leuven) and Dr Anke Raaijmakers (Sydney Children’s Hospital). 

This comprehensive list is developed from 34 journals, including major and subspecialty paediatric journals. We suggest this list can help you discover relevant or interesting articles for your local journal club or allow you to keep a finger on the pulse of paediatric research.

In this journal list, we highlight several studies relevant to our everyday paediatric practice. 

The first one highlights the impact of the recent pandemic on children. This retrospective cohort study in JAMA Pediatrics looked at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the socioemotional development of infants and toddlers. Data from the Nurse-Family Partnership program involving 60,171 families were analysed across four cohorts, including pre-pandemic and three pandemic cohorts (from July 2022 to October 2023).

The pandemic cohorts were more likely to score highly on positive screening for social-emotional and general developmental milestones (ASQ:SE-2, ASQ-3). This suggests that those children who experienced their first year of life in the COVID-19 pandemic had delays in socioemotional development, even after adjusting for demographic factors.

The second paper is a study that suggests a shorter duration of antibiotic treatment for some common infections may reduce antimicrobial resistance, treatment costs, and adverse effects. This randomized controlled trial, published in Pediatrics, looked at the efficacy of a 5-day course of amoxicillin-clavulanate compared to the standard 10-day regimen in treating febrile urinary tract infections (fUTI) in paediatric patients aged 3m-5y. The recurrence rate of fUTI, within 30 days was lower in the 5-day group (2.8%) compared to the 10-day group (14.3%). The shorter 5-day course of antibiotics was non-inferior to the traditional 10-day treatment. 

A randomized clinical trial, the Pediatric Adenotonsillectomy Trial for Snoring (PATS), evaluated adenotonsillectomies in children with snoring or mild obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). They enrolled 459 children aged 3 to 12.9 years. Adenotonsillectomy did not significantly improve executive function or attention at 12 months. However, children who had an operation experienced improvements in behaviour, symptoms, and quality of life and had lower blood pressure. While adenotonsillectomy may not directly impact cognitive functions, it can benefit other aspects of health and well-being in children with mild sleep-disordered breathing.

The fourth study, published in Pediatrics, looked at the evolving epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) among children in the USA over two decades of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) use. Data collected from 2002 to 2021 revealed a 72% decline in IPD incidence among children (<18 years), with continued reductions after the transition from PCV7 to PCV13.

During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021), the incidence of IPD reached its lowest level in 20 years. The study also highlighted changes in prevalent serotypes, resistance patterns, and the need for ongoing surveillance to identify emerging serotypes and develop new vaccines. These findings underscore the positive impact of PCVs in reducing invasive pneumococcal disease among children.

Our final highlighted study looked at the impact of preschool-onset major depressive disorder (PO-MDD, diagnosed between the ages of 3 and 6 years old) as a risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviours in children from early childhood to preadolescence. It involved 137 children with PO-MDD and 53 controls. Children with PO-MDD were significantly more likely to have suicidal ideation in preadolescence compared to their peers. Even when controlling for external factors, PO-MDD remained a strong predictive risk factor for suicidal thoughts and behaviours. The study suggests the importance of increased screening, safety planning, and early interventions for children with PO-MDD to address the risk of future psychiatric morbidity and mortality.

You will find the list is broken down into four sections:

If we have missed out on something useful or you think other articles are absolutely worth sharing, please add them in the comments!