Wrist splints in children as effective as casts

Randomized controlled trial

2010-09-08

(Press-News.org) In children with wrist fractures, a splint is as effective as a cast and provides greater comfort and easier hygiene, found a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj100119.pdf.

Distal radius fractures — wrist fractures — are the most common break in children and a frequent reason for emergency department visits. The usual treatment is a short arm cast for four to six weeks with follow up visits to an orthopaedic surgeon.

The study, a randomized controlled trial with 92 children aged 5 to 12 years, included 43 children with distal radius fractures who were treated with splints and 49 in casts. Participants had acceptably angulated fractures (transverse or greenstick) of 15 degrees or less. The splint group was free to remove the splint to wash in the first four weeks, but otherwise, like the cast group, kept the splint on for the duration of therapy. After six weeks, the participants were assessed by a physiotherapist who did not know which treatment they had received.

"Our results support the growing body of evidence that promote splinting as a suitable alternative to casting for specific distal radius fractures," writes Dr. Kathy Boutis, Staff Physician and Associate Scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and coauthors.

As well, patient and parental satisfaction with the splint was higher. Of the children with casts, 68% would have preferred to have the splint and only 12% of the splint group participants would have preferred the cast.

"There were no differences in maintaining fracture stability, complications, and the splint was shown to be superior in terms of family preferences," write the authors. "Inherent benefits of a pre-fabricated splint include easier hygiene, eliminating discomfort and anxiety associated with cast saw use, and easy application and removal. Thus, evidence from this research combined with the advantages of the splint advocate for this device in the treatment of these fracture cases."

### END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

A new role for insulin in cell survival, cell metabolism and stress response

2010-09-08

Researchers at the Buck Institute for Age Research have discovered a novel way in which insulin affects cell metabolism and cell survival. Surprisingly the insulin signaling pathway, which is involved in aging, diabetes and stress response, is active at a deeper level of cell activity than scientists expected. The study appears in the September 8th issue of Cell Metabolism. Insulin is vitally involved in many cell functions. Buck Institute faculty and lead author Gordon Lithgow, PhD, says scientists have known for years that insulin is involved at the level of cell activity ...

Excessive drinking may lead to poor brain health via obesity

2010-09-08

Alcohol abuse and dependence are often associated with a high body mass index (BMI). A new study shows that alcohol-related brain injury may result from a complicated fusion of hazardous drinking, chronic cigarette smoking, and even elevated BMI. Prior research has shown that alcohol abuse and dependence are typically associated with higher rates of obesity, as evidenced by a high body mass index (BMI). Findings from a new study of the relationship between BMI and regional measures of brain structure, metabolite concentrations, and cerebral blood flow suggest that ...

Chronic drinking increases levels of stress hormones, leading to neurotoxicity

2010-09-08

Alcohol consumption, withdrawal, and abstinence can all raise stress hormones in humans and animals. A review has described how stress hormones called glucocorticoids are associated with neurotoxicity during abstinence after withdrawal from alcohol dependence. Glucocorticoid receptor antagonism may therefore represent a pharmacological option for recovery. Both drinking and withdrawal from chronic drinking can raise circulating glucocorticoid levels, known as cortisol in humans and corticosterone in rodents. Prolonged and high concentrations of glucocorticoids can ...

Decision-making deficits related to driving under the influence are often undetected

2010-09-08

Driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is a major public health problem. New findings show that people who had relapsed to DUI have subtle deficits in their decision-making abilities. These deficits tend to go undetected through conventional neuropsychological testing. Driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol is a major public health problem. A study of people who had relapsed to DUI found subtle deficits in their decision-making abilities that tend to go undetected through conventional neuropsychological testing. Results will be published in the ...

Higher education predicts better cardiovascular health outcomes in high-income countries

2010-09-08

In one of the first international studies to compare the link between formal education and heart disease and stroke, the incidence of these diseases and certain risk factors decreased as educational levels increased in high-income countries, but not in low- and middle-income countries. Researchers — who reported their study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association — also found that smoking rates unexpectedly increased with greater education level among women in high-income and low-and middle-income regions. Furthermore, highly educated women in low-and-middle-income ...

New lymphoma treatment shows promise in dogs

2010-09-08

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers have identified a new target for the treatment of lymphoma and are testing a potential new drug in pet dogs afflicted with the disease. At low doses, the compound, called S-PAC-1, arrested the growth of tumors in three of six dogs tested and induced partial remission in a fourth. The results of the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois, appear this month in the journal Cancer Research. The new compound targets a cellular enzyme, procaspase-3, that when activated spurs a cascade of reactions that kill the cell, said ...

Ghostwritten articles overstate benefits of hormone replacement therapy and downplay harms

2010-09-08

The first academic analysis of the 1500 documents unsealed in recent litigation against the pharmaceutical giant Wyeth (now part of Pfizer) reveals unprecedented insights into how pharmaceutical companies use ghostwriters to insert marketing messages into articles published in medical journals. Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, associate professor in the Department of Physiology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC, analyzed dozens of ghostwritten reviews and commentaries published in medical journals and journal supplements that were used to promote unproven ...

Quality measurement programs could shortchange physicians caring for at-risk patients

2010-09-08

Evaluating the quality of care delivered by individual physicians without accounting for such factors as their patients' socioeconomic status or insurance coverage risks undervaluing the work of those caring for a higher proportion of vulnerable patients. In the Sept. 8 Journal of the American Medical Association a team of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers describe finding that primary care physicians' rankings on common quality measures appear to be associated with the characteristics of the patients they care for. Adjusting physician rankings based on ...

Sequencing the turkey genome

2010-09-08

An international consortium of researchers has completed the majority of the genome sequence of the domesticated turkey, publishing it in the online open-access journal PLoS Biology next week. In 2008, the research consortium set out to map the genetic blueprint for the domesticated turkey, the fourth-most popular source of meat in the United States. The complete genome sequence, rapidly acquired using 'next-generation' sequencing technology, promises new data for avian researchers and, ultimately, a better quality product for turkey producers and consumers. "To date, ...

Johns Hopkins researchers unravel clues to infertility among obese women

2010-09-08

Obese women have a well-known risk for infertility, but a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study has unraveled what investigators there believe is the mechanism that accounts for the risk. The research, conducted in mice and published online on Sept. 8 in the journal Cell Metabolism, shows that the pituitary gland actively responds to chronically high insulin levels, triggering a cascade of hormonal changes that disrupt ovarian function and impair fertility. The findings challenge the widely held belief that infertility is a result of insulin resistance — a body's ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

UK study shows there is less stigma against LGBTQ people than you might think, but people with mental health problems continue to experience higher levels of stigma