Risky things that parents do

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Julie Perrault shares a moment with her kids, clockwise from top, Claire, David, Cate and Edwin. Experts: Parents should slow down when it comes to car seats and stay in right size Sleeping too long in sitting position makes it hard for a baby to get enough oxygen, they sayPediatricians' group warns parents not to heat baby bottles in microwaves

(CNN) -- Julie Perrault shudders when she remembers some of the dumb things she did when her kids were babies.

The mother of four recalls in horror how she used to put her twin babies, David and Cate, in chairs and then put the chairs on top of the dining room table to feed the kids. She thought it was the right thing to do because it kept their older brother and sister from bothering the babies.

"It never occurred to me that the twins could have fallen off the table, but I later found out it happened to a friend of mine," she says. "You don't think they can move around enough to worm their way off the table, but of course they can."

Perrault, who's so open about her mommy transgressions she blogs about them, says there's no way to be a perfect parent. With warnings on nearly everything, and news every day about what's safe and what's not, it's not always easy keeping up.

"It's hard to know what to pay attention to and what not to pay attention to," says Perrault, who lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Just this week, for example, the American Academy of Pediatrics told parents to get rid of a staple in nearly every nursery: crib bumpers. Twenty-seven children died over a 20-year period when the bumpers caused suffocation or strangulation.

According to pediatricians, here's a list of five don'ts that many parents do.

Moving baby to a bigger car seat too early

Parents often like to move babies up quickly to the next stage, whether it's a new diaper size or room in day care. But Dr. Jennifer Shu, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, says parents should slow down when it comes to car seats and stay in the right size until the child is large enough to move up.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and CPSafety have guidelines on when to move from infant to toddler to booster seat.

Letting baby sleep in swing

It's understandable: Your baby falls asleep in the swing, and the last thing you want to do is risk waking him or her up with a move. But in its new recommendations to combat sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, the American Academy of Pediatrics says sleeping too long in a sitting position may make it hard for a baby to get enough oxygen.

The same goes for car seats. Of course, keep babies in car seats if they fall asleep while you're driving, but once you get home, take them out of the seats and put them in their cribs -- don't bring the car seat into the house and let the babies continue napping. Staying in a sitting position might make it hard for your baby to breathe, plus it might contribute to a flat spot on the back of your baby's head and worsen reflux, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Letting your baby watch 'educational' videos

Your baby isn't going to turn into Einstein by watching a video, no matter what the label might imply. This week the American Academy of Pediatrics urged parents to keep children under age 2 as "screen-free" as possible.

In a recent survey, 90% of parents said their children under age 2 watch some form of electronic media. The pediatricians' group says videos are educational only when the child can understand the content and context and only those older than 2 have that ability.

"I explain to parents that watching TV or videos hampers the development of good speech, because the more time your baby is watching TV, the less time you're speaking to your baby and interacting with them," says Dr. Lance Goodman, a pediatrician in Boca Raton, Florida.

Keeping babies off their tummies

There's no question: Babies belong on their backs to go to sleep. Going "back to sleep" cuts down on the chances they'll die from SIDS.

But while babies are awake, give them "tummy time" so they'll develop upper body strength to push up and crawl. Plus, time on the tummy helps prevent skull deformities.

Microwaving your baby's bottle

Perrault winces when she remembers how she heated bottles for her oldest daughter, Claire, in the microwave.

"Later I heard all the terrible things about BPA and chemicals leaching out from the plastic, so I didn't do it with my other three children," she says.

The American Academy of Pediatrics tells parents not to heat bottles in the microwave due to concerns about BPA, or Bisphenol A, a chemical used in some packaging materials, and the uneven warming of liquids, which means a baby's mouth might get burned by a hot spot.

CNN's Aaron Cooper contributed to this report.

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Risky things that parents do

AppId is over the quota
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Julie Perrault shares a moment with her kids, clockwise from top, Claire, David, Cate and Edwin. Experts: Parents should slow down when it comes to car seats and stay in right size Sleeping too long in sitting position makes it hard for a baby to get enough oxygen, they sayPediatricians' group warns parents not to heat baby bottles in microwaves

(CNN) -- Julie Perrault shudders when she remembers some of the dumb things she did when her kids were babies.

The mother of four recalls in horror how she used to put her twin babies, David and Cate, in chairs and then put the chairs on top of the dining room table to feed the kids. She thought it was the right thing to do because it kept their older brother and sister from bothering the babies.

"It never occurred to me that the twins could have fallen off the table, but I later found out it happened to a friend of mine," she says. "You don't think they can move around enough to worm their way off the table, but of course they can."

Perrault, who's so open about her mommy transgressions she blogs about them, says there's no way to be a perfect parent. With warnings on nearly everything, and news every day about what's safe and what's not, it's not always easy keeping up.

"It's hard to know what to pay attention to and what not to pay attention to," says Perrault, who lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Just this week, for example, the American Academy of Pediatrics told parents to get rid of a staple in nearly every nursery: crib bumpers. Twenty-seven children died over a 20-year period when the bumpers caused suffocation or strangulation.

According to pediatricians, here's a list of five don'ts that many parents do.

Moving baby to a bigger car seat too early

Parents often like to move babies up quickly to the next stage, whether it's a new diaper size or room in day care. But Dr. Jennifer Shu, a spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, says parents should slow down when it comes to car seats and stay in the right size until the child is large enough to move up.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and CPSafety have guidelines on when to move from infant to toddler to booster seat.

Letting baby sleep in swing

It's understandable: Your baby falls asleep in the swing, and the last thing you want to do is risk waking him or her up with a move. But in its new recommendations to combat sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, the American Academy of Pediatrics says sleeping too long in a sitting position may make it hard for a baby to get enough oxygen.

The same goes for car seats. Of course, keep babies in car seats if they fall asleep while you're driving, but once you get home, take them out of the seats and put them in their cribs -- don't bring the car seat into the house and let the babies continue napping. Staying in a sitting position might make it hard for your baby to breathe, plus it might contribute to a flat spot on the back of your baby's head and worsen reflux, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Letting your baby watch 'educational' videos

Your baby isn't going to turn into Einstein by watching a video, no matter what the label might imply. This week the American Academy of Pediatrics urged parents to keep children under age 2 as "screen-free" as possible.

In a recent survey, 90% of parents said their children under age 2 watch some form of electronic media. The pediatricians' group says videos are educational only when the child can understand the content and context and only those older than 2 have that ability.

"I explain to parents that watching TV or videos hampers the development of good speech, because the more time your baby is watching TV, the less time you're speaking to your baby and interacting with them," says Dr. Lance Goodman, a pediatrician in Boca Raton, Florida.

Keeping babies off their tummies

There's no question: Babies belong on their backs to go to sleep. Going "back to sleep" cuts down on the chances they'll die from SIDS.

But while babies are awake, give them "tummy time" so they'll develop upper body strength to push up and crawl. Plus, time on the tummy helps prevent skull deformities.

Microwaving your baby's bottle

Perrault winces when she remembers how she heated bottles for her oldest daughter, Claire, in the microwave.

"Later I heard all the terrible things about BPA and chemicals leaching out from the plastic, so I didn't do it with my other three children," she says.

The American Academy of Pediatrics tells parents not to heat bottles in the microwave due to concerns about BPA, or Bisphenol A, a chemical used in some packaging materials, and the uneven warming of liquids, which means a baby's mouth might get burned by a hot spot.

CNN's Aaron Cooper contributed to this report.

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Risky pregnancy drug raised daughters' cancer odds

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This Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011 photo shows Debbie Wingard in her office at the University of California-San Diego where she is a professor. Wingard has had breast cancer twice and has been unable to conceive which she believes is due to her mother's use of the drug DES during pregnancy. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi) This Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011 photo shows Debbie Wingard in her office at the University of California-San Diego where she is a professor. Wingard has had breast cancer twice and has been unable to conceive which she believes is due to her mother's use of the drug DES during pregnancy. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi) This Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Jackie White in Branchville, N.J. White, a breast cancer survivor and a DES daughter who lives in Centerburg, Ohio, north of Columbus, said she had a misshaped uterus and reproductive problems, and found a lump last year that turned out to be breast cancer. Tests showed 20 tumors in one breast, two pre-cancers in the other and spread to her lymph nodes. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) This Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011 photo shows Debbie Wingard outside the Stein Clinical Research building at the University of California-San Diego where she is a professor. Wingard has had breast cancer twice and has been unable to conceive which she believes is due to her mother's use of the drug DES during pregnancy. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi) This Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Jackie White in Branchville, N.J. White, a breast cancer survivor and a DES daughter who lives in Centerburg, Ohio, north of Columbus, said she had a misshaped uterus and reproductive problems, and found a lump last year that turned out to be breast cancer. Tests showed 20 tumors in one breast, two pre-cancers in the other and spread to her lymph nodes. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)eval("var currentItemd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 1;");eval("var nextd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;");eval("var previousd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;"); A drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds.

Many of these daughters, now over 40, may not even know of their risk if their mothers never realized or told them they had used the drug, a synthetic estrogen called DES.

The new study suggests that infertility is twice as common and that breast cancer risk is nearly doubled in these daughters.

Debbie Wingard is one of them. The 59-year-old San Diego woman adopted two boys after being unable to conceive and has had breast cancer twice — when she was 39 and 49.

"There's no knowing what's going to happen as we age. There's always the fear there's going to be another cancer or another outcome," she said. "I don't think I'll ever get to the point where I feel it's behind me."

The sons of DES users also face health risks — testicular problems and cysts — but these are less well studied and don't seem to be as common. Even less is known about the third generation — "DES grandchildren." Some research suggests these girls start menstruating late and have irregular periods, possible signs of fertility issues down the road.

In the United States alone, more than 2 million women and 2 million men are thought to have been exposed to DES while in the womb and may now want to talk with their doctors about when they should be screened for health problems.

"We don't want to cause a panic of everyone rushing out thinking they're going to get cervical or breast cancer. They just need to have that conversation with their physician," said Dr. Sharmila Makhija, women's health chief at the University of Louisville.

The average woman has about a 1 in 50 chance of developing breast cancer by age 55; for DES daughters it's 1 in 25, the study found. Risks for other health problems vary.

DES, or diethylstilbestrol, was widely used in the United States, Europe and elsewhere from the 1940s through the 1960s to prevent miscarriage, premature birth, bleeding and other problems. Many companies made and sold it as pills, creams and other forms.

Studies later showed it didn't work. The government told doctors to stop using it in pregnancy in 1971, after DES daughters in their late teens and 20s were found to be at higher risk of a rare form of vaginal cancer. Further research has tied DES to infertility and various pregnancy problems.

"They've been identified one at a time. Nobody's been able to get the whole picture," said Dr. Robert Hoover, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute. The new study, which he led, "takes the woman and looks at everything that can happen as a result of this drug," and adds evidence for some previously suspected risks like breast cancer, he said.

Results are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

The study started in 1992 and involved about 4,600 DES daughters and a comparison group of 1,900 similar women whose mothers had not used DES. Their health was tracked over time through surveys and medical records. Their average age at the last followup was 48.

In the study, researchers found these rates of health problems in DES daughters compared to non-exposed women:

—Breast cancer, 3.9 percent versus 2.2 percent.

—Cervical pre-cancer, 6.9 percent versus 3.4 percent.

—Infertility, 33.3 percent versus 15.5 percent.

—Early menopause, 5.1 percent versus 1.7 percent

These complications were seen among women who were able to become pregnant:

—Preterm delivery, 53.3 percent versus 17.8 percent.

—Miscarriage, 50.3 percent versus 38.6 percent.

—Tubal pregnancy, 14.6 percent versus 2.9 percent.

—Stillbirth, 8.9 percent versus 2.6 percent.

—Preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy), 26.4 percent versus 13.7 percent.

The claim of added breast cancer risk is being tested by 53 women in a lawsuit against DES makers under way now in Boston. One of them is Jackie White, 48, who lives in Centerburg, Ohio, north of Columbus. She said she had a misshaped uterus and reproductive problems, and found a lump last year that turned out to be breast cancer. Tests showed 20 tumors in one breast, two pre-cancers in the other and spread to her lymph nodes.

"I ate a low-fat diet. I exercise faithfully so I was not overweight. I had none of the normal risk factors," she said.

When and how often to screen women for breast cancer is the subject of much debate. A government task force recommends that women at average risk of breast cancer get mammograms every other year starting at age 50, and talk to their doctors about screening before then. Many medical groups urge starting at age 40.

DES exposure needs to be considered with the whole picture of a woman's risk, said Dr. G. Wright Bates, director of reproductive medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"In some cases, frequent Pap smears and early mammography or breast MRI may be warranted for women with DES exposure," he said.

Others are focused on possible risks to the next generation.

Sally Keely, who was part of the federal study, and her husband are both offspring of women who took DES during pregnancy. Keely, 49, of Kalama, Wash., had miscarriages and a tubal pregnancy and required fertility treatments to have a daughter, now 9.

"I would like to push for more funding on the third generation exposed so I would know best how to advise my daughter," she said.

Fran Howell, executive director of DES Action USA, an advocacy group based in Jupiter, Fla., adopted a daughter, now 20, after being unable to conceive.

"So many of the DES daughters worry about problems with their children," she said. "The DES ends with me."

___

Online:

Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/DES.

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/des/consumers/about/concerns_daughters.html

Advocacy group: www.desaction.org

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Risky pregnancy drug raised daughters' cancer odds

AppId is over the quota
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This Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011 photo shows Debbie Wingard in her office at the University of California-San Diego where she is a professor. Wingard has had breast cancer twice and has been unable to conceive which she believes is due to her mother's use of the drug DES during pregnancy. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi) This Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011 photo shows Debbie Wingard in her office at the University of California-San Diego where she is a professor. Wingard has had breast cancer twice and has been unable to conceive which she believes is due to her mother's use of the drug DES during pregnancy. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi) This Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Jackie White in Branchville, N.J. White, a breast cancer survivor and a DES daughter who lives in Centerburg, Ohio, north of Columbus, said she had a misshaped uterus and reproductive problems, and found a lump last year that turned out to be breast cancer. Tests showed 20 tumors in one breast, two pre-cancers in the other and spread to her lymph nodes. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) This Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011 photo shows Debbie Wingard outside the Stein Clinical Research building at the University of California-San Diego where she is a professor. Wingard has had breast cancer twice and has been unable to conceive which she believes is due to her mother's use of the drug DES during pregnancy. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi) This Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011 photo shows Jackie White in Branchville, N.J. White, a breast cancer survivor and a DES daughter who lives in Centerburg, Ohio, north of Columbus, said she had a misshaped uterus and reproductive problems, and found a lump last year that turned out to be breast cancer. Tests showed 20 tumors in one breast, two pre-cancers in the other and spread to her lymph nodes. The drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)eval("var currentItemd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 1;");eval("var nextd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;");eval("var previousd57851005a80479aaeeb90a12c70b9ff = 0;"); A drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds.

Many of these daughters, now over 40, may not even know of their risk if their mothers never realized or told them they had used the drug, a synthetic estrogen called DES.

The new study suggests that infertility is twice as common and that breast cancer risk is nearly doubled in these daughters.

Debbie Wingard is one of them. The 59-year-old San Diego woman adopted two boys after being unable to conceive and has had breast cancer twice — when she was 39 and 49.

"There's no knowing what's going to happen as we age. There's always the fear there's going to be another cancer or another outcome," she said. "I don't think I'll ever get to the point where I feel it's behind me."

The sons of DES users also face health risks — testicular problems and cysts — but these are less well studied and don't seem to be as common. Even less is known about the third generation — "DES grandchildren." Some research suggests these girls start menstruating late and have irregular periods, possible signs of fertility issues down the road.

In the United States alone, more than 2 million women and 2 million men are thought to have been exposed to DES while in the womb and may now want to talk with their doctors about when they should be screened for health problems.

"We don't want to cause a panic of everyone rushing out thinking they're going to get cervical or breast cancer. They just need to have that conversation with their physician," said Dr. Sharmila Makhija, women's health chief at the University of Louisville.

The average woman has about a 1 in 50 chance of developing breast cancer by age 55; for DES daughters it's 1 in 25, the study found. Risks for other health problems vary.

DES, or diethylstilbestrol, was widely used in the United States, Europe and elsewhere from the 1940s through the 1960s to prevent miscarriage, premature birth, bleeding and other problems. Many companies made and sold it as pills, creams and other forms.

Studies later showed it didn't work. The government told doctors to stop using it in pregnancy in 1971, after DES daughters in their late teens and 20s were found to be at higher risk of a rare form of vaginal cancer. Further research has tied DES to infertility and various pregnancy problems.

"They've been identified one at a time. Nobody's been able to get the whole picture," said Dr. Robert Hoover, a researcher at the National Cancer Institute. The new study, which he led, "takes the woman and looks at everything that can happen as a result of this drug," and adds evidence for some previously suspected risks like breast cancer, he said.

Results are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

The study started in 1992 and involved about 4,600 DES daughters and a comparison group of 1,900 similar women whose mothers had not used DES. Their health was tracked over time through surveys and medical records. Their average age at the last followup was 48.

In the study, researchers found these rates of health problems in DES daughters compared to non-exposed women:

—Breast cancer, 3.9 percent versus 2.2 percent.

—Cervical pre-cancer, 6.9 percent versus 3.4 percent.

—Infertility, 33.3 percent versus 15.5 percent.

—Early menopause, 5.1 percent versus 1.7 percent

These complications were seen among women who were able to become pregnant:

—Preterm delivery, 53.3 percent versus 17.8 percent.

—Miscarriage, 50.3 percent versus 38.6 percent.

—Tubal pregnancy, 14.6 percent versus 2.9 percent.

—Stillbirth, 8.9 percent versus 2.6 percent.

—Preeclampsia (high blood pressure during pregnancy), 26.4 percent versus 13.7 percent.

The claim of added breast cancer risk is being tested by 53 women in a lawsuit against DES makers under way now in Boston. One of them is Jackie White, 48, who lives in Centerburg, Ohio, north of Columbus. She said she had a misshaped uterus and reproductive problems, and found a lump last year that turned out to be breast cancer. Tests showed 20 tumors in one breast, two pre-cancers in the other and spread to her lymph nodes.

"I ate a low-fat diet. I exercise faithfully so I was not overweight. I had none of the normal risk factors," she said.

When and how often to screen women for breast cancer is the subject of much debate. A government task force recommends that women at average risk of breast cancer get mammograms every other year starting at age 50, and talk to their doctors about screening before then. Many medical groups urge starting at age 40.

DES exposure needs to be considered with the whole picture of a woman's risk, said Dr. G. Wright Bates, director of reproductive medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"In some cases, frequent Pap smears and early mammography or breast MRI may be warranted for women with DES exposure," he said.

Others are focused on possible risks to the next generation.

Sally Keely, who was part of the federal study, and her husband are both offspring of women who took DES during pregnancy. Keely, 49, of Kalama, Wash., had miscarriages and a tubal pregnancy and required fertility treatments to have a daughter, now 9.

"I would like to push for more funding on the third generation exposed so I would know best how to advise my daughter," she said.

Fran Howell, executive director of DES Action USA, an advocacy group based in Jupiter, Fla., adopted a daughter, now 20, after being unable to conceive.

"So many of the DES daughters worry about problems with their children," she said. "The DES ends with me."

___

Online:

Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/DES.

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/des/consumers/about/concerns_daughters.html

Advocacy group: www.desaction.org

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Associated Press

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10 Risky Behaviors More Common in Sleepy Teens

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More than two-thirds of teens aren't getting enough sleep on school nights and that's a problem. According to the latest study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sleepy teens were more likely to engage in risky health behaviors, compared with their 8-hours-a-night peers.

Research consistently shows that poor sleep is linked to negative health outcomes, like high blood pressure, weight gain and even early death. Sleeplessness during adolescence, largely fueled by computer and Internet use, has also been linked with an increased risk of depression and anxiety.

Last year, the medical journal Sleep published a series of studies on the consequences of sleeplessness among teens. I wrote, at the time:

Researchers found that for each hour of lost sleep, levels of psychological distress rose by 5% in nearly 3,000 17-to-24-year-olds who were followed for 12 to 18 months. Overall, short sleepers were 14% more likely to report symptoms of psychological distress on a standard test, compared with people who got adequate sleep. The effect was especially pronounced among young people who already suffered from anxiety; in this group, lack of sleep triggered more serious mental health problems like full-blown depression and even bipolar disorder, according to the study's lead author, Professor Nick Glozier. But even among those who began the study in good health, less than five hours of sleep meant tripling their odds of psychological distress.

MORE: Tip for Insomniacs: Cool Your Head to Fall Asleep

The new findings, which were based on data from the 2007 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, fit in with past research. The study authors found that 69% of more than 12,100 adolescents aged 12 to 18 reported getting less than the recommended 8 hours of sleep on the average school night. Sleep-deprived kids were more likely than their well-rested peers to report the following 10 risky health behaviors:

Drank full-sugar soda at least once per dayParticipated in 60 mins. of physical activity fewer than twice in the preceding weekSpent three or more hours each day on the computerHad been in at least one physical fightSmoked cigarettesDrank alcoholUsed marijuanaWas sexually activeHad feelings of sadness or hopelessnessSeriously considered attempting suicide

Of course, it's impossible to know whether teens' sleeplessness contributed to these problems, or the other way around. It's could well be that things like depression, lack of exercise, Internet use and drinking high-sugar beverages may interfere with proper sleep. But the study, which was published online by Preventive Medicine, is the first to draw associations between lack of sleep and risky health behaviors on a national scale.

MORE: Are You Among the Sleepless Elite — or Just the Sleep Deprived?

The researchers suggest that public health policies encouraging more sleep in teenagers — such as starting the school day later —are needed. "Many adolescents are not getting the recommended hours of sleep they need on school nights. Insufficient sleep is associated with participation in a number of health-risk behaviors including substance use, physical fighting, and serious consideration of suicide attempt," said the CDC's Lela McKnight-Eily in a statement. "Public health intervention is greatly needed, and the consideration of delayed school start times may hold promise as one effective step in a comprehensive approach to address this problem."

Meredith Melnick is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @MeredithCM. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

View the original article here

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HEALTH MANAGEMENT. Study casts a wider net for risky blood pressure in children

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - could more children than previously assumed his risk of dangerously high blood pressure, with more than a quarter with blood vessels, which look like the much older, according to a new study.
Since there is a theoretical possibility that some of these children, a stroke or a heart attack, which might suffer down road, say the researchers, that the results mean that all children should their blood pressure measured.
"I believe it is important that everyone for high blood pressure, is shown," said Dr. Karen Redwine Arkansas Childrens Hospital in little rock, which the results in the journal of Pediatrics are displayed.
"The overall rate for the development of high blood pressure, if you are a teenager is still very low," added to them, in an interview with Reuters Health. "But it is a subset of people, the development of high blood pressure somewhere between two and five times, that is, and many of those are children, now normally would apply."
These children have slightly increased blood pressure and diagnosed with so-called "Prehypertension." The label is disputed, however, because no disease to describe it - it is a risk factor for the development of later high blood pressure, which itself is a risk factor for heart disease.
An expert, who said not part of the new study he worried it could be used, to push drugs without evidence, that they do something good children.
"What me a little worried is that they are talking about the pharmacologic therapy,", said Dr. Curt D. Furberg, expert on heart disease prevention and drug safety at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
"If I me the author list, it is one of the Bristol-Myers Squibb," he added. "Pharmaceutical companies want to increase their market." "In this area sense not taking into account the healthy young children for pharmacological therapy."
The national heart, lung and Blood Institute in 2004 defined Prehypertension in children as a top blood pressure number between 120 and 139 or a lower number between 80 and 89. high blood pressure starts at 140 over 90.
If changes of lifestyle such as cutting down on salt and exercise sufficient to control high blood pressure in children, NHLBI advises drugs to try.
In adults the ups hypertension of the risk of stroke and heart attack a few percent. However, for children, the NHLBI recognizes that the long-term effects unknown are with high blood pressure for children, as are the side effects of drug treatment.
"In my mind, there are many more pressing issues in medicine as a screening for hypertension among young people, where we don't even know if treatment is useful," Furberg, Professor of public health, told Reuters Health.
The new study is an attempt, estimate how often children with Prehypertension further to develop full-blown high blood pressure or hypertension.
Development of data from a large test study - sponsored by pharmaceutical companies-at Texas schools, found Redwine and colleagues, that 11 of 1,006 students developed high blood pressure during the study.
This corresponds to a rate of 1 in 200 young people each year. Although the rate for children with Prehypertension appeared similar, a broader definition tripled created by Redwine and her colleagues nearly the rate.
After only a blood pressure higher than normal group a child in the "at risk" would set the new definition.
Until now, Redwine, explains to doctors think that a high blood pressure measurement only a Zufall--could be because the child nervously or somewhat ill was used.
Now, said she, "when it is raised only once, then you must observe and monitor it."
Currently, not the NHLBI recommend drug therapy for children with Prehypertension. But the new report suggests the investigating of the use of drugs in the "endangered."
According to the Texas screening study could that be, more than 26 percent of U.S. teenagers with the new definition-including healthy children who are not overweight.
Furberg and other critics is Prehypertension--not to mention the extended definition in the new students-a concept that comes with over slide diagnosis, over treatment and wasteful expenditure.
He said "That's what the industry is trying to do, to get people to drugs,". "they insist that for adults, and now they seem to children, which is tedious."
Redwine neutralized, although their co-authors at Bristol-Myers Squibb is busy, not drug use in children with Prehypertension are in favour of her report.
"It is not the point to say that they have to be," said Reuters Health.
The US preventive services task force, a State-sponsored group of Experts recommends screening adults for high blood pressure. It is currently the guidelines 2003 updated for children and young people, who pointed out that the evidence is not sufficient to weigh the harm and the benefits of screening children.

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