Childhood Overweight and Obesity During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This cohort study analyzes the prevalence of overweight and obesity among preschool children in Sweden before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic and longitudinal trends in body mass index.

Increased incidence of overweight and obesity among preschool Swedish children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had wide effects on child health globally. Increased prevalence of childhood obesity has been observed by a number of countries during the pandemic. The absence of a formal societal lockdown during the pandemic, made Sweden stand out compared to other countries. This study aims to examine changes in BMI among preschool children in Sweden before and during COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Retrospective population-based cross-sectional study, with longitudinal follow-up for a portion of the children. The study included 25 049 children from three Swedish regions, with growth measures at 3- (n = 16 237), 4- (n = 14 437) and 5-years of age (n = 11 711). Care Need Index was used as a socioeconomic parameter at health centre level. RESULTS: There was an increase in BMI in children aged three (P = 0.028) and four (P<0.001) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Obesity in 3-year-old girls increased from 2.8% to 3.9%. Four-year-olds increased in obesity, and overweight (girls) and the prevalence of underweight decreased in boys. No change in BMI was observed in 5-year-olds. Children in areas of low socioeconomic status had higher risk of obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Overweight and obesity increased among 3- and 4-year-old children in Sweden, findings that were accentuated in children attending child health centres in areas with lower socioeconomic status. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have affected health behaviours negatively in Swedish preschool children. Our results expose the need for extended efforts directed to prevent childhood obesity, especially targeting lower socioeconomic areas.

Multicountry review: developmental surveillance, assessment and care by outpatient paediatricians.

BACKGROUND: Care of young children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) is a major component of paediatric outpatient practice. However, cross-country practice reviews to date have been limited, and available data demonstrate missed opportunities for early identification, particularly in vulnerable population subgroups. METHODS: Multicountry review of national paediatric body guidance related to developmental surveillance, early identification and early childhood intervention together with review of outpatient paediatrician practices for developmental assessment of children aged 0-5 years with/at risk of NDDs. Review included five countries with comparable nationalised universal child healthcare systems (ie, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK). Data were collected using a combination of published and grey literature review, supplemented by additional local sources with descriptive review of relevant data points. RESULTS: Countries had broadly similar systems for early identification of young children with NDDs alongside universal child health surveillance. However, variation existed in national paediatric guidance, paediatric developmental training and practice, including variable roles of paediatricians in developmental surveillance at primary care level. Data on coverage of developmental surveillance, content and quality of paediatric development assessment practices were notably lacking. CONCLUSION: Paediatricians play an important role in ensuring equitable access to early identification and intervention for young children with/at risk of NDDs. However, strengthening paediatric outpatient care of children with NDD requires clearer guidance across contexts; training that is responsive to shifting roles within interdisciplinary models of developmental assessment and improved data to enhance equity and quality of developmental assessment for children with/at risk of NDDs.

Design and implementation of tailored intervention to increase vaccine acceptance in a Somali community in Stockholm, Sweden - based on the Tailoring Immunization Programmes approach.

Objectives: Sweden has had a high and stable vaccination coverage for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine (>96%) through the national immunization program (NIP), but coverage rates highlight local pockets of lower vaccination coverage. This project addressed low MMR vaccine acceptance among parents in a Somali community, in Stockholm. The objective of the intervention was to increase vaccine confidence and MMR-vaccine uptake and also to inform practices addressing vaccine acceptance. Study design: This paper describes the design and implementation of a multi-component intervention based on the Tailoring Immunization Programmes (TIP) approach, developed by the WHO European Regional Office. Methods: The theoretical underpinning of TIP is the Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation Model (COM-B model) and Behaviour Change Wheel framework (BCW), adapted for vaccination. The COM-model was used to identify barriers and drivers to vaccination and intervention types. The TIP-phases described in this paper are: pre-TIP (planning), three succeeding TIP phases (situational analysis, formative research, intervention design) and the post-TIP phase (implementation). Results: The situation analysis and formative research revealed that parents feared the MMR vaccine due to autism or that their child would stop talking following vaccination, despite lack of scientific evidence for an association between autism and MMR vaccines. Barriers were linked to their associated COM-B factors and mapped to appropriate intervention types for two target groups: Somali parents and nurses at the Child Health Centres (CHC). Selected intervention types targeting parents were education, persuasion and modelling whereas education and training were selected for CHC nurses. The intervention activities included community engagement for parents, while the activities for nurses focused on improving encounters and dialogue with parents having low vaccine acceptance. Following the intervention design the activities were developed, pilot tested and implemented. Conclusion: This study confirm that the TIP approach is valuable for guiding a stepwise working process for a thorough understanding of barriers and drivers for MMR vaccination among parents in this Somali community. It facilitated the design of a theory and evidence-informed intervention targeting parents and nurses.

Foreign background and older age of children were associated with infection in Swedish tuberculosis contacts.

AIM: We present our results using interferon-gamma release assays in any child <18 years or tuberculin skin tests in Bacille Calmette-Guérin unvaccinated children for tuberculosis contact investigation in Stockholm, Sweden. METHODS: During 2000-2019, we investigated 892 children with a median age of seven years. We explored associations between TB infection and characteristics such as closeness to contact, age, sex, BCG status and foreign origin. RESULTS: The overall rates were for TB infection 10.2% (n = 91) and for TB disease 1.1% (n = 10). In addition to infectiousness of index case and closeness of contact, foreign background, male sex and increasing age were independently associated with infection. In foreign-born children, the rates of tuberculosis infection and disease were 18.7% and 3.9%, respectively. In 18/46 (39%) infected foreign-born children, a baseline negative tuberculosis test supported a diagnosis of recent infection. CONCLUSION: Foreign background, older age and male sex were associated with infection. In a significant proportion of infected children, a previous negative test made recent infection likely.

Placing children and adolescents at the centre of the Sustainable Development Goals will deliver for current and future generations.

Child health is taking the back seat in development strategies. In summarising a newly released collaborative report, this paper calls for a novel conceptual model where child health takes centre stage in relation to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It lays out five principles by which renewed effort and focus would yield the most benefit for children and adolescents. These include: re-defining global child health in the post-2015 era by placing children and adolescents at the centre of the Sustainable Development Goals; striving for equity; realising the rights of the child to thrive throughout the life-course; facilitating evidence informed policy-making and implementation; and capitalising on interlinkages within the SDGs to galvanise multisectoral action. These five principles offer models that together have the potential of improving design, return and quality of global child health programs while re-energising the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Long-term Prognosis of Tuberculosis Infection and Disease in Swedish Children.

BACKGROUND: Reports of the outcome of treatment of tuberculosis (TB) disease and infection (TBI) in children are scarce. Since 2010, we routinely use interferon-gamma release assays in addition to clinical history for the exclusion of TBI, although the safety of this approach has been questioned. We present the frequency of recurrent TB or progression to TB after treatment for TB disease or TB infection, respectively, and progression to disease in children considered TB uninfected at our pediatric TB clinic. METHODS: We included 4707 patients from 1990 to 2017. At the initial assessment, 96 (2.0%) had previously received TB treatment, 253 (5.4%) had TB disease, 1625 (35%) had TBI and 2733 (58%) children were considered uninfected. Patients were passively followed at our clinic, at the adult TB clinics in Stockholm and at the Swedish national TB registry. RESULTS: During a median follow-up time of 8.4 years, we found 36 cases of TB disease, with true relapses in 3/243 (1.2%) successfully treated TB patients. Preventive treatment of TBI reduced the risk of progression to TB by 85%, from 4.3% (15/349) to 0.6% (8/1262). In children considered uninfected, the risk of later developing TB was 0.07% (2/2733). CONCLUSIONS: The effectiveness of TB management was acceptable. Our routine procedures for the exclusion of TBI appear safe.

Effective Tuberculosis Contact Investigation Using Interferon-Gamma Release Assays.

During 2000 to 2018, 1831 children were screened as part of tuberculosis contact investigation at the Stockholm Northern Clinic. The risk of a child having a positive tuberculin skin test was 33% and positive interferon-gamma release assay 12%. The risk of tuberculosis disease was 6.1% (tuberculin skin test) and 13% (interferon-gamma release assay) in positive-testing children.

Interferon-gamma release assays can effectively screen migrants for the tuberculosis infection, but urgent, active cases need clinical recognition.

AIM: Increasing numbers of migrants to Sweden are screened for tuberculosis (TB), and a rational approach to screening is required. We evaluated positive tuberculin skin tests (TSTs) and interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) on paediatric migrants in relation to the TB incidence in the corresponding foreign-born populations in Stockholm. METHODS: This study examined the characteristics of migrants under the age of 18 who were referred to a paediatric TB clinic at Karolinska University Hospital from 2008 to 2014 by primary care centres in Stockholm County. RESULTS: We saw 943 TST-positive children with a median age of 14 years at the TB clinic and performed IGRAs on 557. IGRA positivity ranged from 64% in migrants from Somalia to 20% in those from the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe, with an estimated population level prevalence of 18.8% and 4.2%, respectively. These were significantly correlated to TB incidence in foreign-born Stockholm children. We diagnosed active TB in 20 screened migrants, and advanced, symptomatic TB was diagnosed in 10 recently arrived migrants without screening. CONCLUSION: IGRAs showed higher specificity than TST in identifying tuberculosis. TB screening should focus on migrants from high-incidence countries, but this may be inadequate to detect advanced TB cases.

Pediatric tuberculosis in Stockholm: a mirror to the world.

BACKGROUND: Increasing international migration has changed the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) in Europe. Little is published on clinical manifestations and epidemiology in children in this new era. METHODS: Clinical and laboratory data on all children with TB in Stockholm between 2000 and 2009 were entered into a database and retrospectively completed with information from case records. Population data, including parents' country of birth, were obtained from Statistics Sweden. RESULTS: TB was diagnosed in 147 children <18 years of age (78 confirmed, 12 probable, 57 possible). Fifty-six children (38%) presented clinically, and 91 were identified by screening procedures. Ninety children (61%) were born in high-endemic countries and 38 in Sweden to parents from such countries. The incidence was 451/100,000 person years among children born in Somalia, 44 among those born in other high-endemic countries, and 13 among Swedish-born children with parents from high-endemic countries. All but 1 of the 19 Swedish-born children with Swedish parents belonged to a single outbreak. Median age was 12 years. Severe, adult-type TB was predominantly observed in adolescents, whereas young children presented mild, primary disease that was diagnosed at the time of screening. The 78 positive cultures were traced back to 67 strains. Resistance to any first-line drug was present in 25% of the strains, of which 4 were multidrug resistant. CONCLUSIONS: Active TB in Stockholm is common in children born in high-endemic countries, especially Somalia. The most severe cases are seen in adolescents. The high prevalence of antimicrobial resistance is a cause for concern.