Breaking medical news on children’s health – April 10

Here are summaries of some medical news coming out this week that pertain to children’s health:

Mutations in a gene were found to be common in infants and children with cardiac hypertrophy (a thickening of heart muscles), even in those without an apparent family history. Researchers recommend that parents and siblings of children with cardiac hypertrophy should consider being seen by a cardiologist for possible undiagnosed cardiomyopathy (inflammation of the heart).

Some patients who would have been diagnosed with a developmental language disorder a few years ago, now meet the newer criteria for autism and autism spectrum disorders. Hence, the rise in autism may be a result of a broadening definition of the disorders.

The FDA has approved a new drug – abatacept (Orencia) – for moderate-to-severe polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis in patients ages six years and older. Polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis is the most common type of persistent arthritis affecting children.

source: MedPage Today