2018-02-16 13:00:00
Last November, the 55th Meeting of the Latin American Society for Pediatric Research (SLAIP 2017) took place in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. More than 200 people, including researchers, health professionals and students from nine countries, presented more than a hundred papers, studies and debates on different aspects of research and treatment of children and young people.
The president of SLAIP 2017, Mr. Paulo Cáceres Guido, Member of the Clinical Pharmacology team and professor of Pharmacotherapy at the University of Buenos Aires, is with us today in Talking with Scientists.
The motto of the Congress speaks for itself. It goes like this, “The best research for the best health of children”. For us, who are parents, siblings, uncles or grandparents of children, their health is important and for this reason we are interested in knowing what the professionals say in these meetings, which are often reserved for expert ears.
Today we have asked D. Paulo Cáceres to share with us some of the most significant scientific works that were presented there and that can provide us with useful information to understand the youngest members of the family.
Body fat and vitamin D.
Obesity and overweight is one of the biggest problems of the child and youth population in most countries. Despite the fact that excess weight could be associated with a diet that has all the basic ingredients for health, a study carried out on Chilean adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 and of medium-low economic status shows that this is not the case. Research reveals that behind the increase in body fat lurks vitamin D deficiencies. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a wide range of health problems, including osteoporosis, cancer, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease.
Breast milk and the levels of certain essential acids for the development of the child.
Mother’s milk is the best food that can be given to a child during the lactation period. However, the quality of this food is closely related to the mother’s diet. Researchers from an Observation Unit of the Public Health System of La Plata, in Argentina, verified that the level of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the breast milk of a total of 38 mothers contained values below the recommended minimum. DHA is one of the main components of the membranes and myelin sheath of neurons, essential for the future intellectual development of babies. DHA is abundant in fish and its deficiency is related to a low consumption in the diet.
Off-label drug prescription in Pediatric Intensive Care Units.
Off-label drugs are known as those that are prescribed to patients in conditions other than those authorized in their data sheet, either because the dose is not indicated or the age of the patient does not fall within that recommended in the package insert. .
A total of 347 prescriptions from 44 patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care units were evaluated and it was found that 58.6% of the medications were classified as “off-label” for reasons of age.
The prescription of “off-label” drugs is very frequent in pediatric patients in PICUs in Peru and Argentina, and is mainly related to the complexity of the patients’ pathology. The researchers recommend that regulatory entities include in the development program new drugs for the pediatric population.
References:
Awards for the Best Scientific Papers of the 55th SLAIP Annual Meeting, Buenos Aires 2017:
First Prize SLAIP 2017 “Dr. Carlos Castillo
“Off-label” drug prescription in Pediatric Intensive Care Units: a multicenter study in Peru, Argentina and Chile -2017.” Authors: Justo Rómulo PADILLA YGREDA, Nora de las Mercedes ESPÍRITU SALAZAR, Emiliana RIZO PATRON, María Cristina MEDINA PFLÜCKER, José TANTALEÁN DA FIENO, Fernando FERRERO, Ricardo PINTO MUÑOZ and GrimaldoRAMÍREZ CORTEZ.
Second Prize SLAIP 2017
“Percentage levels of docosahexaenoic acid in the milk of mothers treated in an Observation Unit of the Public Health System of La Plata, Argentina.” Authors: Silvana VISENTIN, Agustina MALPELI, Victoria FASANO, Mariana FALIVENE, Betiana MALIZIA and Horacio Federico GONZALEZ.
Third Prize SLAIP 2017
“Association between increased body fat and vitamin D insufficiency in Chilean adolescents of medium-low socioeconomic status.” Authors: Carmen Gloria GÜICHAPANI OYARZÚN, Paulina CORREA BURROWS, Raquel BURROWS ARGOTE and Fernando PIZARRO AGUIRRE.
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