News of Interest for Parents: March 30, 2009

News to know:

Panel: All teens should be tested for depression
Nearly 2 million teens are affected by depression, prompting an influential government-appointed medical panel to recommend doctors to routinely screen all American teens for depression.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which sets guidelines for doctors on a host of health issues, published it's findings in April's issue of the journal Pediatrics.
The group recommends research-tested screening tests even for kids without symptoms. It cited two questionnaires that focus on depression tip-offs, such as mood, anxiety, appetite and substance abuse.

Painful kidney stones on the rise in kids
Children with kidney stones have been turning up in rising numbers at hospitals around the country.
In a 2007 study in the Journal of Urology, doctors at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center reported a nearly fivefold increase in children brought in with kidney stones between 1994 and 2005.
At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia reported the number of children treated for kidney stones since 2005 has climbed from about 10 a year to five patients a week now.
While doctores are unsure why why there seems to be an increase in the number of children with kidney stones, some blame kids' love of cheeseburgers, fries and other salty foods.

Babies born just a little early may face delays
Babies born just a few weeks early face higher odds of developmental delays and behavior problems that show up in kindergarten, according to a study in April's Pediatrics journal.
In the study, babies born at 34 to 36 weeks were 36 percent more likely to have developmental delays including learning difficulties in kindergarten than those born during the 37th to 41st week of pregnancy, which is the range for a full-term pregnancy.
Reasons for the results are uncertain, although brain immaturity is one theory.