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Infant Mortality Rates Declining, but Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Is on the Rise, Research Reveals
Infant mortality in the U.S. decreased by 24.2% between 1999 and 2022. Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University and Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU discovered this improvement in a study published Jan. 27 in JAMA Pediatrics.
In the same study, however, they found mortality rates from Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, or SUID, rose significantly — by 11.8% — from 2020 to 2022.
“Although a prior CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] study — using data until 2020 — found that Sudden Unexpected Infant Death was increasing for Black infants, this new study — adding data from 2021 and 2022 — found that the rise is more generalized and occurred in infants overall,” said Elizabeth Wolf, M.D., associate professor in VCU School of Medicine’s Department of Pediatrics, pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and lead author on the study.
Schools Aren’t as Plugged in as They Should Be to Kids’ Diabetes Tech, Parents Say
Just a few years ago, children with Type 1 diabetes reported to the school nurse several times a day to get a finger pricked to check whether their blood sugar was dangerously high or low.
The introduction of the continuous glucose monitor (CGM) made that unnecessary. The small device, typically attached to the arm, has a sensor under the skin that sends readings to an app on a phone or other wireless device. The app shows blood sugar levels at a glance and sounds an alarm when they move out of a normal range.
Blood sugar that’s too high could call for a dose of insulin — delivered by injection or the touch of a button on an insulin pump — to stave off potentially life-threatening complications including loss of consciousness, while a sip of juice could remedy blood sugar that’s too low, preventing problems such as dizziness and seizures.
Schools around the country say teachers listen for CGM alarms from students’ phones in the classroom. Yet many parents say that there’s no guarantee a teacher will hear an alarm in a busy classroom and that it falls to them to ensure their child is safe when out of a teacher’s earshot by monitoring the app themselves, though they may not be able to quickly contact their child.
Water Bead Ingestion Linked to Neurotoxicity
Water bead toys have the potential to cause not only intestinal obstruction in children who ingest them but also neurotoxicity, a case study suggested. A 13-month-old female who was previously healthy presented to the emergency department with vomiting, lethargy, and weight loss over several weeks along with insomnia and facial dermatitis, reported a group led by Ashley Haugen, of the nonprofit advocacy organization That Water Bead Lady and the mother of the patient.
During an exploratory laparotomy, a mass consisting of water beads was removed from the child’s distal small intestine, Haugen and colleagues noted in Pediatrics. Following the removal of the mass, the patient’s facial dermatitis resolved. However, her speech along with gross and fine motor, sensory and neurological functions continued to worsen. A second surgical procedure removed multiple fragments of water bead material from the child’s large intestine.
“This is an essential area for pediatric medical awareness because the dangers of water beads extend beyond what is commonly understood,” Haugen told MedPage Today in an email. “While physical obstructions are often the focus, the potential chemical toxicity of water beads, including neurotoxic and systemic effects have been largely overlooked.” These beads are made of polymerized acrylamide monomer, which can be toxic at high levels. And they can clump together into a gelatinous mass.
Notorious US Chemical Plant Polluting Water With Toxic PFAS, Lawsuit Claims
The chemical giant Chemours’s notorious West Virginia PFAS plant is regularly polluting nearby water with high levels of toxic “forever chemicals,” a new lawsuit alleges. It represents the latest salvo in a decades-old fight over pollution from the plant, called Washington Works, which continues despite public health advocates winning significant legal battles.
The new federal complaint claims Washington Works has been spitting out levels of PFAS waste significantly higher than what a discharge permit has allowed since 2023, which is contaminating the Ohio River in Parkersburg, a town of about 50,000 people in Appalachia.
The factory was the focal point of a Hollywood movie, Dark Waters. It dramatized the story of how the pollution widely sickened Parkersburg residents, and the David v Goliath legal saga in which a group of residents and attorneys took on Chemours, then part of DuPont.
California Rain Causes Plastics and Other Toxic Ash Runoff Warnings
Heavy rain continued to fall across parts of Southern California Monday, offering some relief to firefighters battling multiple wildfires but also heightening the risk of toxic ash runoff in areas recently devastated by flames.
The rain, which followed mudflows over the weekend, triggered flood watches in areas around the Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and Castaic Lake, where firefighters have been working to secure the aftermath of the recent fires.
On Sunday, portions of the Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles County were closed after mudflows hit Topanga Canyon, according to the California Department of Transportation. Snow also fell in the region’s mountains.
