(Press-News.org) A review of the available medical literature suggests that data on experience-related outcomes in children's surgery are limited and vary widely in methodologic quality, according to a report published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.
Hospital and surgeon characteristics are often examined in terms of outcomes. Studies in adults have been numerous but the quality and quantity of similar data in children are less consistent, according to the study background.
Jarod P. McAteer, M.D., of Seattle Children's Hospital, Washington, and colleagues reviewed 63 studies evaluating 25 procedures to review the association between surgeon or hospital experience and outcomes in children's surgery.
"The most important point manifested by the results of these studies is that hospital-level characteristics are often strongly associated with improved outcomes in less common, more complex problems (e.g., CDH [congenital diaphragmatic hernia] and congenital heart surgery), whereas surgeon-level factors appear to be more important in more common, less resource-demanding procedures (e.g., appendectomy, pyloromyotomy, ureteral reimplantation, and cleft lip repair) as well as in procedures commonly encountered in adult surgery (thyroidectomy, inguinal herniorrhaphy and cholecystectomy). These results highlight the importance of surgeon- vs. system-level factors, depending on the condition of interest," the authors conclude.
###
(JAMA Pediatr. Published online March 25, 2013. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.25. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)
Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Study finds data on experience-related outcomes limited in children's surgery
2013-03-26
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Carmustine decreases amyloid beta plaques
2013-03-26
Long term treatment by carmustine, a chemical relative of mustard gas and already used to treat some types of brain cancer, can decrease the amount of amyloid β and number of amyloid plaques in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The research is published in Biomed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine.
Alzheimer's disease progressively destroys memory, language, and judgement of affected people. While deaths due to heart disease, stroke and cancer may be decreasing, the number of deaths each year due to Alzheimer's disease is on the increase. Accumulation ...
Increased time to pregnancy linked to child's neurological development
2013-03-26
Taking a long time to get pregnant may be linked to minor neurodevelopmental problems in the child, suggests a small study published online in the Fetal & Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood.
This suggests that impaired fertility itself - defined as failing to become pregnant after 12 months - rather than fertility treatment, may be a key factor in any subsequent developmental problems in the child, say the authors.
It is well known that children conceived as a result of fertility treatment are at a higher risk of premature birth and low birthweight, ...
5 year-olds who watch TV for 3+ hours a day more likely to be antisocial
2013-03-26
Five year-olds who watch TV for three or more hours a day are increasingly likely to develop antisocial behaviours, such as fighting or stealing by the age of seven, indicates research published online in Archives of Disease in Childhood.
But the risk is very small, say the authors, who additionally found that time spent playing computer/electronic games had no impact on behaviour.
Prolonged screen viewing time has been linked to various behavioural and emotional problems in children, say the authors, but most research has focused exclusively on television, and almost ...
What a bunch of dodos!
2013-03-26
Research carried out by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and collaborators reveals that the last region on earth to be colonised by humans was home to more than 1,000 species of birds that went extinct soon after people reached their island homes.
The paper was published today (25th) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
Almost 4,000 years ago, tropical Pacific Islands were an untouched paradise, but the arrival of the first people in places like Hawaii and Fiji caused irreversible damage to these natural havens, due to overhunting ...
Requests for lower-back MRIs often unnecessary: Alberta & Ontario medical research
2013-03-26
More than half of lower-back MRIs ordered at two Canadian hospitals were either inappropriate or of questionable value for patients. And family doctors were more apt to order these unnecessary tests compared to other specialists, demonstrates newly published medical research from Alberta and Ontario teams. The findings are important because in some parts of the country, MRI tests for the lower back account for about one-third of all MRI requests. Across the country, wait times for MRIs are long and patient access is limited.
The findings were published online in the peer-reviewed ...
Reducing smokers' exposure to cigarette smoke toxicants -- our first clinical study results
2013-03-26
We have shown in our first clinical study of our novel prototype cigarettes that it is possible to reduce smokers' exposure to certain smoke toxicants.
The only way to be certain of avoiding the risks of smoking is not to smoke. And reducing the health risks of smoking has been the overriding aim of tobacco research for many years. It is known that the risk of developing smoking-related disease is greater in people who smoke more cigarettes per day and for longer periods.
We have spent several decades researching the nature of tobacco smoke, identifying key toxicants ...
Hunger-spiking neurons could help control autoimmune diseases
2013-03-26
Neurons that control hunger in the central nervous system also regulate immune cell functions, implicating eating behavior as a defense against infections and autoimmune disease development, Yale School of Medicine researchers have found in a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Autoimmune diseases have been on a steady rise in the United States. These illnesses develop when the body's immune system turns on itself and begins attacking its own tissues. The interactions between different kinds of T cells are at the heart of ...
Wang's technology may answer host of medical questions
2013-03-26
VIDEO:
This video is a real-time look at red blood cells moving through the capillaries taken using a technique called photoacoustic flowoxigraphy.
Click here for more information.
In an engineering breakthrough, a Washington University in St. Louis biomedical researcher has discovered a way to use light and color to measure oxygen in individual red blood cells in real time.
The technology, developed by Lihong Wang, PhD, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical ...
RI Hospital researchers discover new strategy to effectively treat, prevent osteoarthritis
2013-03-26
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Think new discoveries are the bee's knees? This one is even better -- this research out of Rhode Island Hospital is the mice's knees. Researchers have found that adding lubricin, a protein that our bodies naturally produce, to the fluid in our joints may reduce the risk of or even prevent osteoarthritis (OA). The findings, in a paper by Gregory D. Jay, M.D., Ph.D., of the department of emergency medicine, is published online in advance of print in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The discoveries were made in part by studying ...
Decoding the genetic history of the Texas longhorn
2013-03-26
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Longhorn cattle have a hybrid global ancestry, according to a study by University of Texas at Austin researchers published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study of the genome of the Longhorn and related breeds tells a fascinating global history of human and cattle migration. It traces back through Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the New World, the Moorish invasion of Spain and the ancient domestication of the aurochs in the Middle East and India.
"It's a real Texas story, an American story," said Emily ...