https://medicalxpress.com/childrens-health-news/ en-us Latest health news and information about Children's Health Babies who are exclusively breastfed for at least three months carry markers in their blood that differ from babies who are not breastfed. The finding comes from the largest study of its kind, conducted across an international consortium. Researchers studied blood sample data in children, looking at epigenetic marks across the genome. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-exclusive-breastfeeding-linked-term-dna.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 07:20:04 EDT news695535841 A new study published in The Journal of Nutrition, offers new insights into a decades-old puzzle in childhood obesity. The study found that while body mass index (BMI) starts to rise in early childhood during a stage known as adiposity rebound, when BMI increases after an initial decline, the waist-to-height ratio, a measure that better reflects body fat, continues to drop. This suggests that the BMI increase at this age mainly reflects growth in lean tissues such as muscle and bone, rather than extra body fat. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-decades-puzzle-childhood-body-fat.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 07:00:01 EDT news695464776 Research published earlier this year found the strongest evidence yet that the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has played a key role driving up autism diagnoses in Australia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-autism-largely-fueled-national-disability.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 20:40:01 EDT news695472781 Researchers from the Universitat Politècnica de València, the Francesc de Borja University Hospital in Gandia and the La Ribera University Hospital, through the Fisabio Foundation, have found that sunlight passing through windows in homes is neither a safe nor a recommended alternative for preventing or treating neonatal jaundice, a condition affecting more than half of all newborns. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-exposing-newborns-sunlight-windows-jaundice.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 19:40:02 EDT news695488262 A University of Calgary-led study has found evidence that children with genes predisposing them to migraine might have an increased risk of having more headaches after a concussion, which are known to be linked to prolonged symptoms up to six months after the injury. Dr. Serena Orr, MD, an associate professor in the Cumming School of Medicine, and Dr. Keith Yeates, PhD, a professor in the Faculty of Arts, led the study which looked at over 600 children aged 8 to 16 who presented with symptoms of concussion, and followed them for six months post injury. The work is published in the journal Neurology Genetics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-link-migraine-genetics-concussion-headaches.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:00:05 EDT news695485202 New research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) suggests schools relying on one-off well-being surveys may be overlooking students who need mental health support. The study, led by psychology researcher Dr. Shane Rogers, found that tracking students' moods over several weeks provides a more accurate picture than a single snapshot in time. The results are published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-school-mental-health-students.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:40:06 EDT news695476917 Efforts to identify and evaluate next-generation therapeutics for pediatric brain tumors are easily stymied by the quality and availability of laboratory models for research. To address this issue, scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have developed patient-derived tumor organoids and tumor organoid xenografts that accurately reflect the biologic underpinnings of embryonal brain tumors. These models utilize the latest technical advances, allowing researchers to perform functional assays and preclinical drug testing faster without relying on newly obtained tumor samples. The models are available to other researchers upon request, providing a resource to help advance the field. The work appears in Science Advances. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-3d-brain-tumor-organoids-scientific.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:30:02 EDT news695492401 New research published in The European Journal of Endocrinology shows that increased total body fat mass and abdominal fat mass from late adolescence to early 20s, but not from the childhood period before this, predicts progressively worsening cardiac structural and functional outcomes by young adulthood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-future-heart-health-body-fat.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:00:03 EDT news695476947 Researchers at Cincinnati Children's, working with collaborators at University College London and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have identified a practical, data-centered strategy to reduce bias in artificial intelligence (AI) systems used in children's mental health care. The findings, published in Communications Medicine, address growing concern that AI tools designed to assist clinicians may not perform equally well across patient groups. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-method-advances-efforts-bias-ai.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news695486823 Adolescents who consume more ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have significantly higher odds of being overweight or obese, according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis published in the open-access journal PLOS One by Mekuriaw Nibret Aweke of the University of Gondar, Ethiopia, and colleagues. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ultra-food-intake-sharply-higher.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:11 EDT news695466061 When you have a baby, mealtimes can be messy and stressful. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-baby-solid-foods.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:04 EDT news695472841 New research from the University of Toronto suggests that children who drink whole-fat milk in early childhood may have lower odds of obesity in middle childhood than those who drink reduced-fat milk. The study adds to emerging evidence that lower-fat milk does not reduce child obesity, even though many dietary guidelines in the last three decades have encouraged low-fat dairy, including Canada's dietary guidelines from 2019. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-fat-lowers-child-obesity.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 11:40:01 EDT news695469482 Millions of neurons branch throughout our bodies, keeping them in close communication with our brains. This peripheral network begins to take shape long before birth, as the cells of a growing embryo move into position and adopt their specialized roles. This crucial stage of human development can't be monitored directly, but by examining genetic clues that linger in adult cells, scientists have now gained surprising insights into the developmental origins of the peripheral nervous system. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-secrets-human-early-nerve-cell.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 18:00:01 EDT news695404502 A new Yale study shows how the timing of depression in mothers and fathers affects mental health in their adult children. This includes influences on depression, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-parental-depression-adult-children-mental.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news695401980 New waist-to-height cutoffs to assess fat mass and obesity predicted the risk of hypertension better than body mass index, according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland and the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers University in the US. The aim of the study was to externally validate new pediatric waist circumference-to-height ratio (WHtR)-estimated fat mass cutoffs for predicting the risk of elevated blood pressure and hypertension among a multiracial population of children and adults in the U.S. The work is published in The Journal of Nutrition. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-waist-height-ratio-hypertension-bmi.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:20:01 EDT news695397601 An extensive register-based study conducted in Finland has found an increase in severe mental health problems among some adolescents and young adults who have undergone medical gender reassignment (GR). According to the research, young people who underwent gender identity assessments with the hope of receiving medical GR required psychiatric treatment for severe mental health problems three times more often than age-matched controls. The paper is published in the journal Acta Paediatrica. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-link-medical-gender-reassignment-mental.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:00:06 EDT news695395441 Over the past decade, as youth e-cigarette use reached what the Surgeon General labeled epidemic proportions, at least 30 U.S. states and numerous local municipalities have implemented excise taxes on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) to curb consumption. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-vaping-taxes-teen-nicotine.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:40:03 EDT news695390101 Individuals living with sickle cell disease in sub-Saharan Africa face disparities in treatment and health care access when compared with those in other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) or high-income countries (HICs), according to findings published in Blood Global Hematology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-saharan-africa-patients-sickle-cell.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:00:04 EDT news695281588 The cerebellum, a part of the brain traditionally associated with balance and movement, is also important for more complex tasks like reading and spelling, a University of Alberta study suggests. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-links-brain-region-linguistic-ability.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 07:40:01 EDT news695368261 Montana State University students published a paper alongside Duke University researchers in the Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics this spring, validating a study on the optimal caffeine dosage for newborn babies with congenital heart disease. External validation means the research findings could be put to use in hospitals nationwide, beyond the group of patients studied at Duke, said Dr. Danny Benjamin, affiliate professor in MSU's Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology and Duke University STAR principal investigator and pediatrics professor. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-students-publish-paper-validating-optimal.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:20:01 EDT news695305053 Efforts to crack down on illegal e-cigs in the U.S. may not be keeping pace with sales, a new government report suggests. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-crackdown-vapes-falling-short.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:40:01 EDT news695295401 A study using tiny retinas grown in a lab has revealed how subtle changes in a key growth-controlling protein can lead to a condition causing serious eye defects from birth. The findings, published in the journal Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)—Molecular Basis of Disease, shed new light on ocular coloboma, a rare congenital eye condition affecting about 1 in 5,000 births and responsible for roughly 10% of childhood blindness. Coloboma arises when a structure in the developing eye, the optic fissure, fails to close properly and often co-occurs with other tissue-fusion problems such as cleft lip and/or palate. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-lab-grown-retina-gene-clue.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:00:04 EDT news695290418 Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that has been shown to strengthen teeth and reduce cavities. Many municipalities add fluoride to their drinking water—a process called community water fluoridation—as a public health measure to support dental health. In recent years, however, some have claimed that ingesting fluoride can harm children's IQ. Now researchers at the University of Minnesota have led a team that investigated the connection between fluoride in drinking water and children's IQ to see if these claims had merit. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-fluoride-kids-iq-decades-analysis.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:20:06 EDT news695316481 New research from the University of Oxford finds that more than one in five children born after 2013 experience poverty for at least half of their childhood (from birth to age ten). The study provides the first comprehensive evidence on trends and drivers in long-term childhood poverty across birth cohorts in Britain. The paper is published in the Journal of Social Policy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-term-childhood-poverty-rose-sharply.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:40:07 EDT news695305330 Knowing whether a child has sustained a concussion is an important matter to clinicians, parents and bystanders alike. However, the signs and symptoms that are most meaningful to look for are not as well defined. A study published last week in JAMA provides important new information that pinpoints the signs and symptoms that strongly indicate that a child has a concussion. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-child-headache-dizziness-mental-fog.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:20:13 EDT news695305239 Higher levels of key steroid hormones—combined with elevated stress and body mass index (BMI)—are associated with earlier onset of puberty in girls, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Many studies describe declining trends in the age at puberty, but until now few studies have examined how stress and BMI interact with a girl's hormonal biology. This paper is among the first to integrate these three factors using a comprehensive steroid metabolome approach. The findings are published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-stress-bmi-hormones-linked-earlier.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:40:08 EDT news695303402 Nearly 12,000 people in the U.K. who received a first dose of the MenB vaccine will now be offered a second shot starting next week, after a deadly meningitis outbreak linked to a university in Kent. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-meningitis-vaccine-doses-uk-outbreak.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 13:20:03 EDT news695296263 Researchers at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine have found that stopping mass drug administration for Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) was associated with an increase in infections from other parasitic worms, threatening disease control efforts. The study, published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, suggests that once wider community treatment programs for LF ended, school-aged children were nearly twice as likely to be infected with the intestinal roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-community-wide-treatment-linked-resurgence.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:40:07 EDT news695301481 As the risk of measles remains an ongoing concern, herd immunity in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, is already slipping. According to data obtained via The Washington Post in January 2026, 1 in 3 Allegheny County kindergartners were in a classroom too far below adequate vaccination coverage to stop a measles outbreak during the 2023–24 school year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-declining-vaccination-allegheny-county-kindergarten.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:20:01 EDT news695294282 A new study, published in JAMA Network Open, reveals that school-age children and adolescents with medically diagnosed traumatic brain injury (TBI) have significantly higher rates of anxiety/depression, and strong family support and resilience helps alleviate some of it. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-impact-traumatic-brain-injury-children.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:00:15 EDT news695293201