Dental Caries in Children: An Update.

Dental caries, also known as cavities, are the most prevalent dental problem in children. The etiology is mostly multifactorial and a result of an imbalance between the constant mineralization and demineralization on the tooth surface. It is important to assess oral health risks, counsel caregivers, and encourage oral hygiene. Recent guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) underscore the evolving role of the pediatrician in initiating early dental health interventions.

Composition of Common Junk Food Items and Their Contribution to the Dietary Requirement of Children and Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the carbohydrate, energy, fat, protein, and sodium content of commonly consumed junk food items and to compare these to the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) and Estimated Average Requirements (EAR) of children. METHODS: A list of eight common junk food categories was made, and the median nutritional content of carbohydrate, energy, fat, protein and sodium was determined from the commonly consumed brands in these categories. It was compared to the RDA and EAR for two different age groups viz., age 4-6 year, and male adolescents aged 13-15 years. RESULTS: The junk food groups with the highest carbo-hydrate were packaged potato chips and cakes, the group with the highest fat content was packaged potato chips, and the groups with the highest salt content were burgers and packaged potato chips. The %EAR of one packet of some items was 80-90% of daily fat requirement, and more than 60% of daily sodium requirement. CONCLUSIONS: Junk foods contribute substantially to the daily intake of carbohydrates, free sugars, total fats, saturated fats, and sodium of children.

Chronic Kidney Disease and COVID-19: Outcomes of hospitalised adults from a tertiary care centre in North India.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and has emerged as a deadly pandemic affecting countries all over the world. Here we share our experience of managing adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and concomitant COVID-19 infection jointly managed by pediatric and adult nephrology teams. METHODS: This retrospective study was done on patient admissions (>18 years) between 20th June- 30th October 2020 with previously diagnosed CKD and hospitalised with COVID-19 infection. The demographic details, underlying comorbidities, clinical presentation, medications, laboratory, radiological profile and outcomes were studied. RESULTS: A total of 213 adults (62% males) with CKD were admitted during this period with a median (IQR) age of 52 (42, 60) years; 75 (35.2%) had associated diabetes mellitus, 83.1% hypertension, 5.2% hypothyroidism and 7% coronary artery disease. 165 (77.5%) were on maintenance haemodialysis (MHD), and 72.8% had arteriovenous fistula as vascular access at presentation. Most (84.5%) patients were symptomatic for COVID-19, and about 2/3 diarrhoea had moderate to severe disease. Oxygen therapy was needed in 62.9%, and medications used were hydroxychloroquine in 84.5%, azithromycin in 21.6%, ivermectin in 82.6%, steroids in 63.8% and Low molecular weight heparin in 59.2%. A further comparison of patients with CKD5D and CKDND revealed similar parameters except for a higher incidence of diarrhoea, acute kidney injury (AKI) and a shorter period to RTPCR negativity (12.5 vs 15 days; P = 0.038) in CKDND. The overall mortality was 24.4%, with similar mortality rates in both groups (P = 0.709) and 20.7% needed ICU transfer. CONCLUSIONS: Adults with CKD especially on haemodialysis, are prone to more severe COVID-19 infection and take a longer time for viral clearance (>2 weeks); the mortality too is higher in these patients.

SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with chronic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND: Information on the course of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is limited. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the presentation and outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection in patients with CKD followed at any of the four pediatric nephrology centers in New Delhi from April 2020 to June 2021. Outcomes, including cardiopulmonary and renal complications, were reported in relation to underlying disease category and illness severity at presentation. RESULTS: Underlying illness in 88 patients included nephrotic syndrome (50%), other CKD stages 1-4 (18.2%), CKD 5D (17%), and CKD 5T (14.8%). Thirty-two of 61 patients with symptomatic COVID-19 and 9/27 asymptomatic patients were admitted for median 10 (interquartile range 7-15) days. Seventeen (19.3%) patients developed moderate or severe COVID-19. Systemic complications, observed in 30 (34.1%), included acute kidney injury (AKI, 34.2%), COVID-19 pneumonia (15.9%), unrelated pulmonary disease (2.3%), and shock (4.5%). Nineteen (21.6%) had severe complications (AKI stage 2-3, encephalopathy, respiratory failure, shock). Eight (11%) of twelve (16.4%) patients with severe AKI required dialysis. Three (3.4%) patients, two with steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome in relapse and one with CKD 1-4, died due to respiratory failure. Univariate logistic regression indicated that patients presenting with nephrotic syndrome in relapse or moderate to severe COVID-19 were at risk of AKI (respective odds ratio, 95%CI: 3.62, 1.01-12.99; 4.58, 1.06-19.86) and/or severe complications (respective odds ratio, 95%CI: 5.92, 1.99-17.66; 61.2, 6.99-536.01). CONCLUSIONS: Children with CKD presenting with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 or in nephrotic syndrome relapse are at risk of severe complications, including severe AKI and mortality. A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information.

Effectiveness of a Low Dose Prednisolone Regimen for Treatment of Relapses in Children with Steroid Sensitive Nephrotic Syndrome.

Introduction: There may be a role of reducing the total steroid doses for the treatment of relapses of nephrotic syndrome in children with milder and more stable disease. The primary objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a low-dose prednisolone regimen with standard therapy for the treatment of relapses in steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) at the end of treatment, the secondary objectives being time to remission and sustained remission after 3 months. Methods: This randomized controlled trial included a total of 40 children (20 in each group) with SSNS (presently infrequently relapsing course) and with a relapse. Both groups received prednisolone at a dose of 2 mg/kg/day until remission; subsequently, the patients in the study group received 1 mg/kg, and the control group participants received 1.5 mg/kg prednisolone on alternate days for 4 weeks. The patients were followed up till 3 months after stopping the therapy. Results: The median (IQR) age of children enrolled was 7.5 (range: 5-9.65) years, and the age at onset of nephrotic syndrome was 4 (range: 2.3-5.5) years. The median time to achieve remission was 9 days (comparable in low dose vs. standard therapy group; P = 0.14). All patients were in remission at the end of therapy; 85% of patients were in the low-dose group and 90% in the standard therapy group after 1 month (P = 0.32). At the end of 3 months, 60% continued to be in remission in the low-dose group and 65% with standard therapy (P = 0.37). Hazard ratios for relapse at the end of 1, 2, and 3 months were 1.05, 1.08, and 1.13, respectively. Patients who were infrequently relapsing (79%) from the onset of nephrotic syndrome had higher remission rates at the end of 3 months (80% in the low-dose group vs. 76.9% in the standard therapy group). Hazard ratios for relapse in these patients at the end of 1, 2, and 3 months were 1.01, 1.03, and 1.08, respectively. Conclusions: Lower doses of prednisolone can be used for the treatment of relapse of steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome, with an infrequently relapsing course.

Zinc Supplementation for Prevention of Febrile Seizures Recurrences in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Multiple studies have documented lower serum zinc levels in patients with febrile seizures in comparison to febrile patients without seizure. However, there is limited evidence comparing the effects of zinc supplementation with placebo on recurrence of febrile seizures in children. OBJECTIVES: To study the effects of zinc supplementation on recurrence rate of febrile seizures in children less than 60 months of age. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials. DATA SOURCE AND SELECTION CRITERIA: We searched PubMed, EMBASE and CENTRAL databases for articles reporting randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials comparing the effects of zinc supplementation with placebo on recurrence of febrile seizures in children aged less than 60 months. We performed a fixed effect meta-analysis to provide pooled odds ratio of febrile seizure recurrence. Quality of evidence was assessed using GRADE approach. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged less than 60 months. INTERVENTION: Zinc supplementation. OUTCOME MEASURES: Odds of febrile seizure recurrence. RESULTS: Four clinical trials with a total of 350 children were included in the review. There was no statistically significant difference between odds of febrile seizure recurrence during one year follow up, in children on zinc supplementation compared to those on placebo (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.41 - 1.18, I2 = 0%). CONCLUSIONS: Available evidence is very low quality and thus inadequate to make practice recommendations.

Medical education during COVID-19 associated lockdown: Faculty and students' perspective.

BACKGROUND: The lockdown imposed due to novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in adopting electronic learning (e-learning) as the means of education in various institutions all over India. This study aimed to collect the experiences of faculty and students regarding e-learning in medical colleges during COVID-19 and to analyse the likely perceived benefits and problems to choose blended learning activities after the COVID crisis. METHODS: A survey-based study was conducted among undergraduate students and faculty members in medical colleges of Delhi-NCR. RESULT: Two hundred forty-eight medical students and 23 faculty members participated in the study. Two hundred twelve (85.4%) students considered medical education to be severely affected during the lockdown and 219 (88.3%) students found the online classes to be useful. Poor connectivity followed by lack of human interface and poor sound or acoustics were the major hindering factors, whereas convenience and access were reported as important facilitating factors. In the postlockdown phase, 135 (54.4%) students want online classes to be continued in addition to classroom teaching for the cognitive domain, 42 (16.9%) students want it for both cognitive and psychomotor domain and 60 (24.1%) do not want online classes. The majority of the faculty members (65.2%) were in favour of including online teaching modules in routine curriculum and 69.6% suggested a 70%:30% distribution of traditional and online classes after the COVID lockdown. CONCLUSION: Implementation of e-learning within the existing curriculum is bound to be challenging; however, it remains the only solution during COVID-19 imposed lockdown for maintaining the chain of learning.

Mucormycosis with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 Patients on Hemodialysis: A Case Series with Review of Literature.

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) emerged as a pandemic with varied clinical presentations. Patients with an underlying comorbidity such as diabetes and chronic kidney diseases (CKDs) had an increased risk of developing secondary bacterial and fungal coinfections which was further accentuated by the use of steroids during the management and with prolonged intensive care unit stay. This case series describes the clinical course of two patients with CKD who developed acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 infection and mucormycosis.

Comparison of antistreptolysin O and anti-deoxyribonucleic B titers in healthy children to those with acute pharyngitis, acute rheumatic fever, and rheumatic heart disease aged 5-15 years.

BACKGROUND: Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) affects millions of children in the third world countries like India. The diagnosis of rheumatic fever is based on the Jones criteria with serological titers, antistreptolysin O titer (ASO), and anti-deoxyribonucleic B (ADB), taken as evidence of recent streptococci infection. There is a lack of recent data available on ASO and ADB titers in children from the Delhi/NCR and thus adequate geographical area-specific cutoffs for the region are not available. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to determine and compare the ASO and ADB antibody titers in children with acute pharyngitis, ARF, rheumatic heart disease (RHD), and in healthy children of the Delhi/NCR region. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-six cases of ARF, 51 cases of RHD, 50 cases of acute pharyngitis, and 84 healthy normal children were included in the study. A single ASO and ADB titer measurement was done in these children. RESULTS: The ASO titers was raised in acute pharyngitis - 303 IU/ml (interquartile range [IQR], 142-520 IU/ml) and ARF - 347.5 IU/ml (IQR, 125-686 IU/ml) children in comparison to healthy controls - 163.5 IU/ml (IQR, 133-246.5 IU/ml) and RHD patients - 163 IU/ml (IQR, 98.250-324.500). The ADB titers were highest in ARF patients - 570.5 IU/ml (IQR, 276-922 IU/ml) followed with RHD - 205 IU/ml (IQR, 113.6-456.5), healthy controls - 78.25 IU/ml (IQR, 53.39-128.15 IU/ml), and acute pharyngitis - 75.12 IU/ml (IQR, 64.5-136 IU/ml). The upper limit of normal (ULN) values of ASO and ADB computed from normal healthy children were 262.4 IU/ml and 134.44 IU/ml, respectively, and these can be used as cutoff values for recent streptococcal infection in this geographical area. CONCLUSIONS: The median ASO titers in acute pharyngitis group and ARF were significantly raised compared to that of the control group. The ADB titers were raised in ARF and RHD patients albeit the levels were higher in ARF patients. The derived ULN values can be used as cutoff reference.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia presenting as nephromegaly in a child: A rare case report.

Arora SK, Swarnim S, Hemal A, Bidhuri N. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia presenting as nephromegaly in a child: A rare case report. Turk J Pediatr 2019; 61: 97-101. Acute leukemia is the commonest pediatric malignancy with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) constituting about 75% of all leukemias. ALL commonly presents as fever, bleeding, bone pains, anemia, lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly. The liver, spleen or lymph nodes are the most common sites of extramedullary involvement in ALL, with renal involvement being relatively uncommon. The usual differential diagnosis of acquired massive bilateral nephromegaly in children includes pyelonephritis, obstructive uropathy, infections such as HIV nephropathy, mucormycosis, glycogen storage diseases, myelofibrosis with extramedullary hematopoiesis, kidney tumors and rarely hematological malignancies like ALL. Here we report a 2 years old child who presented with abdominal distention, low grade fever and constipation. Clinical examination revealed massive bilateral nephromegaly. Preliminary investigations showed severe anemia and slightly elevated WBC counts with presence of reactive changes in lymphocytes along with few atypical cells (9%). Abdominal ultrasonography revealed bilaterally enlarged kidneys which was later confirmed by CT abdomen. He was eventually diagnosed with CALLA positive B cell ALL for which treatment was started in accordance with the International network for cancer treatment and research (INCTR) protocol 02 04. At present, he is on maintenance phase and responding well to the treatment with regression of kidney size to normal on follow up ultrasonogram. Thus, leukemia should be considered in a child presenting with bilateral nephromegaly after exclusion of above mentioned differential diagnosis. Bone marrow aspiration must be done before doing a more invasive investigation like renal biopsy.

Factors Associated with Readmission of Pediatric Patients in a Developing Nation.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the incidence of readmission in pediatric patients in a tertiary care hospital in a developing nation and to ascertain factors precipitating readmissions. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted from February 2016 through January 2017 at a tertiary care hospital. Children between 1 mo to 15 y of age were included if they were readmitted within 60 d of discharge. The risk factors for readmission were determined on the basis of medical record review and a structured questionnaire and the ascribed cause of readmission was grouped into three categories: Patient specific factors, Hospital specific factors and Unrelated/ New illness. RESULTS: The readmission rate was 3%, out of which 80.66% were found to be causally related to the index admission. Several sociodemographic characteristics i.e. lack of health information like television, lower socioeconomic status, absence of adequate breastfeeding, lower age, migrants were found to be significantly associated with readmission along with other patient specific factors like presence of cardiac disease, presence of comorbid conditions like anemia, malnutrition, and global developmental delay. The most important cause for readmission was determined as patient specific (48.66%) followed by hospital specific (38%) and unknown/unrelated factors (13.33%). CONCLUSIONS: The progression of the primary illness and social determinants of pediatric readmissions are important contributing risk factors for readmission in developing countries in pediatric patients. Multicentric studies are needed from this region of the world to include different hospital readmissions rate and to address the issue of potential preventability of pediatric readmissions.

Bilateral Spontaneous Urinoma in a Cyanotic Child.

BACKGROUND: Urinoma is an encapsulated collection of extravasated urine, secondary to trauma or obstructive uropathy. Spontaneous bilateral urinoma is rare. CASE CHARACTERISTICS: 7-year-old boy with cyanotic heart disease and fever of unknown origin. OBESERVATION: The ultrasound abdomen and CT abdomen revealed bilateral spontaneous urinoma which was aspirated and was found to be infected. Following intravenous atibiotics the child became afebrile, with subsequent renal scans showing no recurrence. MESSAGE: Hypoxia and consequent polycythemia may be responsible for perinephric leaks leading to Non-traumatic spontaneous urinoma.