childhood

The UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) has detected an unusual increase in Streptococcus pyogenes infections in the last month. This bacterium is responsible for mild infections, but also for more serious conditions such as scarlet fever and, above all, invasive disease. The British authorities have raised the alarm after at least eight children died from this pathogen. In Spain, the Spanish Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases has reported that there have also been some deaths and is analysing whether there has been an unusual increase in cases.

A study in Spanish children, with follow-up from pregnancy to adolescence, has found an association between children's exposure to pesticides and fungicides and earlier breast development in girls and genital development in boys. The work has been carried out by the University of Granada (UGR), the Institute for Biosanitary Research (ibs.GRANADA) and CIBERESP (ISCIII).

In a briefing organised by the Science Media Centre Spain, Amparo Larrauri and Francisco Pozo, researchers at the Health Institute Carlos III, explained how three respiratory viruses are coexisting this autumn: influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (responsible for most bronchiolitis) and SARS-CoV-2.

Using genetic data from more than 340,000 participants of European descent, research has identified five genetic variants that make people more susceptible to myopia in combination with intensive schooling, especially university studies. The results are published in PLOS Genetics.

A systematic review and meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open examines whether there is an association between newborn exposure to SARS-CoV-2 and impaired neurodevelopment compared to those born before the pandemic. Neurodevelopment in the first year of life was not modified by being born or growing up during the covid-19 pandemic or by gestational exposure to SARS-CoV-2. However, the authors appreciated that, regardless of whether maternal infection was present, the pandemic was associated with a risk of delayed communication in these infants.

A study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health shows that 98% of a cohort of trans adolescents in the Netherlands who started hormone treatment before adolescence continued to do so years later.

Researchers have analysed the presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in 72 textile products purchased online in the US and Canada in 2020 and 2021. The results, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, show high concentrations in school uniforms and higher concentrations in 100 % cotton as opposed to synthetics. 
 

In the coming days, our children and young people will return to their schools. In addition to their education, schools offer the possibility to improve and maintain their health also through healthy and sustainable nutrition. This is one of the current challenges in Europe; a much more complex challenge than it may seem.  

Using data from the 2017 National Health Interview Survey, researchers show that children and adolescents (aged 4-14 years) who skip breakfast or eat it away from home are more likely to have psychosocial behavioural problems. The research is published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.

Research published in PNAS shows how, in a sample of more than 1,600 racially diverse (black and white) parents in the United States, freedom of school choice, regardless of the presence of students of other ethnicities, also increases segregation. The authors attribute this to different preferences between black parents, who favour higher school ratings, and white parents, who prefer proximity to the school.