Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Infant Sleep Guides Updated, But Key Parts Remain Same
Co-sleeping under any circumstances is not safe for infant sleep, the American Academy of Pediatrics stressed Tuesday in the first update to its safe sleep guidelines for babies since 2016. "We know that many parents choose to share a bed with a child, for instance, perhaps to help with breastfeeding or because of a cultural preference or a belief that it is safe," said Dr. Rebecca Carlin, who coauthored the guidelines and technical report from the AAP Task Force on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and the AAP Committee on Fetus and Newborn, in a statement. "The evidence is clear that (co-sleeping) significantly raises the risk of a baby's injury or death," said Carlin, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. "For that reason AAP cannot support bed-sharing under any circumstances." (LaMotte, 6/21)
In other pediatric news 鈥
Delta Airlines on Monday flew a large shipment of baby formula from London to Logan International Airport as the US continues to grapple with a formula shortage, according to the airline. 鈥淭he first flight was today, June 20,鈥 said Delta spokesperson Catherine Morrow via email Monday. A spokesperson for Massport, which runs Logan, referred questions to Delta. In a statement released June 10, the White House said the Biden administration had arranged the sixth Operation Fly Formula flight to US, with Delta transporting Kendamil formula free of charge from London to Logan in Boston and Detroit Metro Airport between June 20 and June 24. (Andersen, 6/20)
When Varun Vohra, director of the Michigan Poison & Drug Information Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine, noticed more cases involving children who had ingested the sleep aid melatonin, it prompted him to join forces with other experts who had observed a similar increase, and study the issue. But even the research team, which was made up of pediatricians and toxicologists, was surprised by the results: From January 2012 through December 2021, the annual number of pediatric ingestions of melatonin reported to poison control centers across the United States rose a whopping 530 percent, with a total of 260,435 ingestions reported over that time. (Chang, 6/20)
For Megan H. Pesch, doing everything possible to ensure the health of her third baby became a bit of an obsession. While pregnant, Pesch exercised, avoided changing her cat鈥檚 litter and put off getting highlights in hair, just in case the chemicals could have any effects. She even washed her hair with baking soda instead of commercial shampoo during the first trimester聽 鈥 though she is quick to admit this is not an evidence-based recommendation.聽As a developmental and behavioral pediatrician with the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Pesch was better positioned than most people to understand the precautions she needed to take. (Norwood, 6/17)
One night when Paul Gakpo was 9 months old, he fell sick and wouldn鈥檛 eat. His parents grew worried and rushed him to a nearby hospital the next morning. It was 1984. The doctors figured out baby Gakpo鈥檚 red blood cells were changing from the typical doughnut shape into the shape of a half moon, and what he was experiencing was a sickle cell disease pain crisis. 鈥淚 had some damage done to my feet and my legs, and could have lost my legs,鈥 Paul said. 鈥淏ut luckily they were able to save鈥 my walking ability.鈥 (Yousry, 6/20)
More health and wellness news 鈥
People with type 2 diabetes could be helped to lose weight while they sleep with a new treatment method being tested by scientists. Researchers at the University of Portsmouth are seeking volunteers to try out the new system which will see if breathing lower amounts of oxygen (hypoxia) during sleep could lead to weight loss. The aim of the study is to investigate whether sleeping in special tents creating an environment of lower oxygen in the air is effective at improving blood glucose control and has an impact of weight loss. (Mitchell, 6/20)
By now, most people know that stress can take a serious toll on mental and physical health. And when that stress is prolonged, studies suggest, it can increase the risk of certain health conditions like asthma, ulcers, heart attack and stroke. Now, new research suggests that certain types of stress can even age your immune system. (Seo, 6/17)
One teacher from Connecticut stretches out her arms when she recalls what it was like to hold and corral her second-graders as they fled from a shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A social studies teacher from Florida still remembers seeing three students鈥 bodies in the hallway as a SWAT team led her class out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. A principal from Ohio can still hear the high school junior who told the teen who had shot him, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to do this; you haven鈥檛 killed anybody.鈥 Across the country, roughly 311,000 students who have experienced gun violence at school since the Columbine High shooting in Colorado in 1999, according to a database compiled by The Washington Post, including those in Uvalde, Tex., last month. But hundreds of educators, too, have come through this catastrophe. (Asbury, 6/20)
The Pew Research Center recently published the results of a survey that shows Latinos in the United States experience racial discrimination from other Latinos in various ways: from comments about the color of their skin to criticism for speaking Spanish in public. Ana Gonz谩lez-Barrera, an expert on immigration and border deportations who was part of the team that did the study, talked with the Que Hay team about it. (Lozada, 6/20)
On transgender issues 鈥
Swimming鈥檚 global governing body, FINA, barred almost all transgender women from competing in the women鈥檚 category in international events, departing from an approach that had previously allowed their participation if they could meet certain testosterone levels.聽FINA won鈥檛 allow swimmers who have gone through male puberty to participate in women鈥檚 events, regardless of their later actions to suppress testosterone. Some swimmers who have not undergone male puberty may also be required to manage testosterone levels under the policy, which takes effect Monday.聽 (Higgins and Radnofsky, 6/20)
The new eligibility policy for FINA competitions states that male-to-female transgender swimmers (transgender women) are eligible to compete in women's competitions only if "they can establish to FINA's comfortable satisfaction that they have not experienced any part of male puberty beyond Tanner Stage 2 (of puberty) or before age 12, whichever is later". Typically boys will begin puberty at ages 11-12 and complete the process by 16-17. Tanner Stage Two is the second of five stages of puberty. While puberty timetables vary according to a number of factors, boys can have completed stage 2 and entered stage 3 by the age of 12 or 13. In some cases it may be earlier or later. (6/20)