FDA Approves Nexium For Use In Children

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Nexium for short-term use in children ages one to 11 years for treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in capsule and liquid form.

“This approval provides important information for appropriate dosing for children ages 1-11 years with GERD,” said Julie Beitz, M.S., director of the FDA’s Office of Drug Evaluation III in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Children prescribed this drug should be monitored by their physicians for any adverse drug reactions.”

For more information, go to the FDA website.

Gov. Crist Unveils Fitness Challenge for Elementary Schools

Gov. Charlie Crist has announced the 2007-2008 Governor’s Fitness Challenge for Elementary Schools to help schools and families boost the physical fitness of Florida students, and all eight Winter Park Consortium Schools already have signed up.

The Challenge is an eight-week event that encourages elementary students to join in physical activity and it focuses on five activities that can be completed during or after the school day.

Participating schools have the chance to win $10,000 or $5,000 worth of sports or fitness equipment or a visit from a Florida professional athlete or Olympian. The deadline for registration is March 7.

Click here to read more about the program.

Car Crash Deaths Increase Starting at Age 12

Child passengers, ages 12 to 16, are more likely to die in a car crash than younger children, according to a study released in the “Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.” This risk increases with each teenage year. Conducted as part of an on-going research collaboration between the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm Insurance Companies, the study offers evidence-based guidelines for parents and policymakers to help protect this vulnerable age group.

Researchers examined 45,560 crashes involving eight- to 17-year-old passengers. Between 2000 and 2005, 9,807 passengers in this age group died in crashes. “We saw a clear tipping point between ages 12 and 14, where child passengers became much more likely to die in a crash than their younger counterparts,” says Flaura Koplin-Winston, M.D., Ph.D., founder and co-scientific director of the Center for Injury Research and Prevention at CHOP.   Of the nearly 10,000 passenger deaths, more than half were riding with a driver under age 20 and nearly two-thirds were unrestrained.

Read the complete story on the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia website.

Skipping Breakfast May Mean Adding Pounds

Eating breakfast–particularly a healthy one–is a great way to start the day, and, according to yet another study, can mean a trimmer body.

“There’s a pretty significant inverse association between how frequently kids report eating breakfast and how much weight they gain over time, and we took into account other dietary factors and physical activity,” said Mark Pereira, co-author of the study, published in the March issue of “Pediatrics.”

Read the complete story on the Healthfinder website by clicking here.

New Tobacco Products Entice Young Users

Tobacco manufacturers are producing new products that attract new youth to the market, according to a new report from a coalition of public health organizations.

The report, “Big Tobacco’s Guinea Pigs: How an Unregulated Industry Experiments on America’s Kids and Consumers,” was issued by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids with funding by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  The full report and a slideshow of new tobacco products can be found by clicking here.