all Department of Maternal and Child Health stories

Child enrichment program still pays off after 15 years

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:25:57 -0400

Researchers have detected the lasting benefits of early childhood education 15 years after the program ended. What may have seemed like three years of fun and games at the time for the low-birth weight, premature infants translated into higher achievement scores in math and reading for the intervention group at age 18.

They also tended to have fewer risky behaviors. The study, led by Marie McCormick and published in the March 2006 Pediatrics, is believed to be the largest and most rigorous of its kind.

"Early educational intervention works," said McCormick, the Sumner and Esther Feldberg professor of maternal and child health at the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston.

Strict enforcement of lead abatement policies saves communities money

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:27:05 -0400

Exposure to lead is determined by blood tests, and measured in micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set a "level of concern" at 10 micrograms per deciliter. Even at low levels, lead poisoning in children can cause IQ deficiencies, reading and learning disabilities, impaired hearing, reduced attention spans, hyperactivity and other behavior problems. A study by Mary Jean Brown, assistant professor of maternal and child health at the Harvard School Public Health, examined 137 addresses in two adjacent urban areas in the northeastern U.S. where children with high blood lead levels (25 micrograms per deciliter of blood) were identified between 1992 and 1993. The two areas were similar in many aspects but differed regarding provisions for the enforcement of lead-related housing policies; one employed strict enforcement and the other did not. The study suggests that lead abatement is associated with a savings per building, over a 10-year span, of more than $45,000. The findings were published in the November/December 2002 issue of Medical Decision Making. The study was funded in part by John and Virginia Taplin and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

Children from working-class families twice as likely to be depressed adults

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:13:02 -0400

Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds have an elevated risk of depression throughout their lifetimes, even if they become more professionally successful than their parents. That's the conclusion of a study conducted by Harvard School of Public Health researcher Stephen Gilman and colleagues. The study also suggests that girls raised in working-class households are more likely to develop depression as adults than boys in similar households. Gilman points out that the majority of participants in the study did not develop depression, indicating that childhood factors are only part of the story of major depression.

First report in a decade quantifies healthcare for U.S. children

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:09:12 -0400

Asthma, injuries and mental health problems are the leading causes of hospitalization of children over 5 years old, according to a report prepared by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and other colleagues. Infections and birth-related problems send more preschoolers and infants to the hospital, while youths aged 15 to 17 are hospitalized primarily for problems related to pregnancy and childbearing. Other findings include: • Infection is the diagnosis for 41.5 percent of hospitalizations for children aged 1 to 4. • Pregnancy and delivery accounts for 30.1 percent of hospitalizations for children aged 15 to 17. • Hispanic children were the racial/ethnic group most likely to be uninsured (21.2 percent).