Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASPS) in pediatric primary care.

Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to global health. Optimizing the use of antibiotics is a key measure to prevent and control this problem. Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASPs) are designed to improve clinical outcomes, minimize adverse effects and protect patients, and to ensure the administration of cost-effective treatments. Inappropriate use of antibiotics also occurs in pediatric clinical practice. For this reason, ASPs should include specific objectives and strategies aimed at pediatricians and families. Implementing these programs requires the involvement of institutions and policy makers, healthcare providers as well as individuals, adapting them to the characteristics of each healthcare setting. Pediatric primary care (PPC) faces specific issues such as high demand and immediacy, scarce specialized professional resources, difficulties to access regular training and to obtain feedback. This requires the design of specific policies and strategies to achieve the objectives, including structural and organizational measures, improvement of the information flow and accessibility to frequent trainings. These programs should reach all health professionals, promoting regular trainings, prescription support tools and supplying diagnostic tests, with adequate coordination between health care levels. Periodic evaluations and surveillance tools are useful to assess the impact of the actions taken and to provide feedback to health providers in order to adapt and improve their clinical practice to meet ASPs objectives.

[COVID-19 pandemic. What have we learned?] / Pandemia COVID-19. ¿Qué hemos aprendido en este tiempo?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, we have learned a lot about the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, and its role in pediatric pathology.Children are infected in a rate quite similar to adults, although in most cases they suffer mild or asymptomatic symptoms. Around 1% of those infected require hospitalization, less than 0.02% require intensive care, and mortality is very low and generally in children with comorbidities. The most common clinical diagnoses are upper or lower respiratory infections, gastrointestinal infection and, more seriously, multisystemic inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). Most episodes do not require treatment, except for MIS-C. Remdesivir has been widely used as a compassionate treatment and its role has yet to be defined.The newborn can become infected, although vertical transmission is very low (<1%) and it has been shown that the baby can safely cohabit with its mother and be breastfed. In general, neonatal infections have been mild.Primary care has supported a very important part of the management of the pandemic in pediatrics. There has been numerous collateral damage derived from the difficulty of access to care and the isolation suffered by children. The mental health of the pediatric population has been seriously affected. Although it has been shown that schooling has not led to an increase in infections, but rather the opposite. It is essential to continue maintaining the security measures that make schools a safe place, so necessary not only for children's education, but for their health in general.

[Access to complementary tests for the diagnosis of infectious diseases in primary care paediatric clinics]. / Acceso a pruebas complementarias para el diagnóstico de enfermedades infecciosas en las consultas de pediatría de atención primaria.

INTRODUCTION: The performing of complementary tests in infectious processes can increase the diagnostic precision, the adequacy of treatments, as well as determining the epidemiology and pattern of bacterial resistance of the community. The Infectious Pathology Group of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Paediatrics (GPI-AEPap) has designed this study in order to determine the availability of complementary tests (CT) for paediatricians working in Primary Care of the public health system as well as their results. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Observational cross-sectional descriptive national study was carried out using a voluntary self-report questionnaire distributed online to all AEPap members and to the subscribers of the PEDIAP distribution list between the months of April and May 2017. RESULTS: A total of 517 responses were obtained. An analysis was made of the data from the professional environment, as well as those related to the request for basic supplementary tests (blood count, biochemistry, and routine urine analysis), the use of Rapid Antigen Detection Test for group A Streptococcus, bacterial cultures, serology, diagnostic tests for pertussis and tuberculosis (Mantoux), as well as imaging tests. CONCLUSIONS: There is variability between Autonomous Communities and healthcare areas. Areas for improvement were found in the accessibility to different CT, collection time and sending of samples, delay in receiving results, as well as waiting times for non-urgent imaging tests. These affect the intervention and resolution capacity of the primary care paediatrician.

[Obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents. Association with cardiovascular risk factors in first degree relatives]. / Obesidad y factores de riesgo cardiovascular en adolescentes. Asociación con factores de riesgo cardiovascular en familiares de primer grado.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Obesity is a major concern in public health. The fact that most teenagers stop contacting the health system during this period of life prevents detection of this problem and its associated morbidity. The aim of this study is to measure the prevalence of obesity at 18. We also aimed to detect overweight, cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) and association with CVRF in parents and siblings. PATIENTS AND METHOD: The research includes 153 children followed up to 18 years old in a community health center. Measures of body mass index (BMI), waist perimeter, CVRF, and familiar history were taken. RESULTS: The prevalence of obesity in our study group was 7.18%, (IC: 3.0-11.0), (6.25% male and 7.86% female). The prevalence of overweight was 18.3% (IC: 11.9-24.0), (26.56% male and 12.35% female). A familiy history of CVRF was found in 53.9% (IC: 46.1-61.9) of cases, including high blood pressure (25%), obesity (23.6%), dyslipemia (21.7%), and diabetes (7.2%). This finding was more prevalent in the obesity group (72.72%) than in those with overweight only (64.2%), or with normal weight (49.59%). A family history of obesity and diabetes in first-degree relatives was associated to obesity in the study group. Also, a family history of high blood pressure was associated to the presence of high blood pressure in this group. CONCLUSIONS: In order to detect obesity, overweight, and associated complications in young adults, specific attention to children and siblings of persons who present risk factors is recommended. Those with high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity have the higher risk.