AAP Conference and News

I’m bummed that I missed the AAP conference in Boston, although I’ve been following Medscape conference news. If any readers attended a presentation particularly noteworthy, please leave a comment so that the rest of us can check out the information online.

I also missed the AAP’s Pediatric Care Online announcement last week. The new site is designed so that pediatricians can use wireless devices to access online reference content, such as the Point-of-Care Quick Reference, Bright Futures, Red Book, the Interactive Periodicity Schedule, and more. The content is accessible from handheld devices operating with Palm, Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, and Blackberry software. And yes, you can also access content using your iPhone. You can read more about it here.

Because I’m not a member, I don’t have access to everything on Pediatric Care Online, and I don’t know if the site is updated with the new recommendations for vitamin D that hit the news this week. According to the AAP press release, you should look for an update to the Pediatric Nutrition Handbook this month.

Along this line of news, Johns Hopkins has published a press release regarding a study that suggests the existing recommendations for treating vitamin D deficiency in children with cystic fibrosis are too low. The study is published in this month’s issue of The Journal of Pediatrics.

The FDA has a new statement regarding the Consumer Healthcare Products Association’s announcement that its members who make OTC cough and cold medicines for children will modify labeling. Personally, with an estimated 95 million packages of OTC pediatric cough and cold medications purchased each year, I don’t think it’s enough. The agency also has a brief report on melamine exposure in infants, and discourages consumers from purchasing infant formulas manufactured in China. I’m not sure who would do that, considering that infant formula isn’t something that the US currently imports from China, but there’s always the internet, I guess.