Ebola haemorrhagic fever among hospitalised children and adolescents in northern Uganda: epidemiologic and clinical observations.
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BACKGROUND: A unique feature of previous Ebola outbreaks has been the relative sparing of children. For the first time, an out break of an unusual illness-Ebola haemorrhagic fever occurred in Northern Uganda Gulu district. OBJECTIVES: To describe the epidemiologic and clinical aspects of hospitalised children and adolescents on the isolation wards. METHODS: A retrospective descriptive survey of hospital records for hospitalised children and adolescents under 18 years on the isolation wards in Gulu, Northern Uganda was conducted. All patient test notes were consecutively reviewed and non was excluded because being deficient. RESULTS: Analysis revealed that 90 out of the 218 national laboratory confirmed Ebola cases were children and adolescents with a case fatality of 40%. The mean age was 8.2 years +/- SD 5.6 with a range of 16.99 years. The youngest child on the isolation wards was 3 days old. The under fives contributed the highest admission (35%) among children and adolescents; and case fatality because of prolonged close contact with the seropositive relatives among the laboratory confirmed cases. All (100%) Ebola positive children and adolescents were febrile while only 16% had hemorrhagic manifestations. CONCLUSION: Similar to previous Ebola outbreaks, a relative sparing of children in this outbreak was observed. The under fives were at an increased risk of contact with the sick and dying. RECOMMENDATIONS: Strategies to shield children from exposure to dying and sick Ebola relatives are recommended in the event of future Ebola outbreaks. Health education to children and adolescents to avoid contact with sick and their body fluids should be emphasized. (+info)
The PedsQL Present Functioning Visual Analogue Scales: preliminary reliability and validity.
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BACKGROUND: The PedsQL Present Functioning Visual Analogue Scales (PedsQL VAS) were designed as an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) instrument to rapidly measure present or at-the-moment functioning in children and adolescents. The PedsQL VAS assess child self-report and parent-proxy report of anxiety, sadness, anger, worry, fatigue, and pain utilizing six developmentally appropriate visual analogue scales based on the well-established Varni/Thompson Pediatric Pain Questionnaire (PPQ) Pain Intensity VAS format. METHODS: The six-item PedsQL VAS was administered to 70 pediatric patients ages 5-17 and their parents upon admittance to the hospital environment (Time 1: T1) and again two hours later (Time 2: T2). It was hypothesized that the PedsQL VAS Emotional Distress Summary Score (anxiety, sadness, anger, worry) and the fatigue VAS would demonstrate moderate to large effect size correlations with the PPQ Pain Intensity VAS, and that patient" parent concordance would increase over time. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability was demonstrated from T1 to T2 in the large effect size range. Internal consistency reliability was demonstrated for the PedsQL VAS Total Symptom Score (patient self-report: T1 alpha = .72, T2 alpha = .80; parent proxy-report: T1 alpha = .80, T2 alpha = .84) and Emotional Distress Summary Score (patient self-report: T1 alpha = .74, T2 alpha = .73; parent proxy-report: T1 alpha = .76, T2 alpha = .81). As hypothesized, the Emotional Distress Summary Score and Fatigue VAS were significantly correlated with the PPQ Pain VAS in the medium to large effect size range, and patient and parent concordance increased from T1 to T2. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate preliminary test-retest and internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the PedsQL Present Functioning VAS instrument for both pediatric patient self-report and parent proxy-report. Further field testing is required to extend these initial findings to other ecologically relevant pediatric environments. (+info)
Temporal relationship between substance use and delinquent behavior among young psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents.
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Psychopathology in adolescent children of physicians.
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The clinical records of 27 adolescent children of physicians who were treated in a psychiatric unit for adolescents were studied. Most of the children had been referred by their physician fathers for evaluation of conduct or mood disorders. These referrals were often the focus of family distress. There appeared to be no typical syndrome presented by physicians' children. Those treating such patients should be especially sensitive to the possibility that parental denial will increase the patient's resistance to therapy. Family therapy, an effective treatment for psychologic problems in adolescents, is often avoided by physicians. (+info)
Characteristics of adolescent work injuries reported to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.
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OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to provide descriptive data and incidence data on adolescent work-related injuries and to determine whether such injuries are underreported to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. METHODS: The study consisted of a 1-year survey of 534 adolescent work-related injuries reported to the Department of Labor and Industry and a cross-sectional survey of 3312 public high school students from throughout Minnesota. The high school survey used an abbreviated questionnaire with a subset of items from the Department of Labor and Industry survey. RESULTS: Ninety-six percent of the injuries were strains and sprains, cuts and lacerations, burns, bruises and contusions, and fractures. There were 11 hospitalizations; 4 were for burns that occurred during work in restaurants. Eighty workers (15%) reported permanent impairment as a result of their injuries. It was estimated that there were 2268 reportable injuries to working adolescents in Minnesota during the study year. CONCLUSIONS: The most common serious injuries were injuries to the lower back and burns. The demographic characteristics of adolescents whose injuries were reported to the Department of Labor and Industry were similar to those of injured adolescent workers identified through the high school survey. The results suggest that there is substantial underreporting of adolescent work injuries. (+info)