Markers of maternal depressive symptoms in an urban pediatric clinic.

OBJECTIVE: To identify markers of maternal depressive symptoms in medical records of children aged 1-6 years. STUDY DESIGN: Using a case-control methodology, mothers who were screened for depressive symptoms with the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Self-Rated Questionnaire (QIDS-SR) at well-child visits between June 2006 and June 2008 in an inner-city pediatric clinic were grouped into cases with depressive symptoms (QIDS-SR score ≥ 11) and controls with no symptoms (QIDS-SR score ≤ 5). Potential markers for maternal depressive symptoms were collected from the children's medical record and grouped into 3 domains: (1) child health and development (eg, maternal concerns/negative attributions regarding the child's behavior); (2) child health care utilization (eg, missed appointments); and (3) maternal psychosocial factors (eg, single parent). The association between maternal depressive symptoms and each factor was determined using multiple logistic regression to calculate aORs. RESULTS: Maternal depressive symptoms were significantly associated with reports of concerns/negative attributions about the child's behavior (aOR, 2.35; P = .01) and concerns about speech (aOR, 2.40; P = .04) and sleep (aOR, 7.75; P < .001); these were identified at the visit when the depression screening was done. Other associations included history of maternal depression (aOR, 4.94; P = .001) and a previous social work referral (aOR, 1.98; P = .01). CONCLUSION: Information readily available to pediatricians was associated with maternal depressive symptoms and can serve as clinical markers to help identify at-risk mothers during well-child visits.

Risk factors associated with biliary pancreatitis in children.

OBJECTIVES: Little is known about risk factors for biliary pancreatitis in children. We characterized cases of pediatric biliary pancreatitis, compared biliary with nonbiliary cases, examined differences in presentation between younger and older children, and studied features distinguishing gallstone- from sludge-induced pancreatitis. METHODS: We evaluated 76 episodes of biliary pancreatitis from 271 cases of acute pancreatitis in children admitted to a tertiary care hospital from 1994 to 2007. RESULTS: Of the 76 cases, 55% had gallstones, 21% had sludge, and 24% had structural defects. Hispanic children had 2.85 (P = 0.01) and 5.59 (P = 0.003) times higher probability for biliary pancreatitis than white and black children, respectively. Median serum amylase and lipase in children with biliary pancreatitis were 64% and 49% higher, respectively, compared with other causes (P < 0.05). In multiple logistic regression, aspartate aminotransferase was an independent predictor of biliary pancreatitis (odds ratio 6.69, P = 0.001). When comparing gallstone- with sludge-induced causes, obesity was an independent predictor (38% more prevalent, P < 0.01) of gallstone cases. CONCLUSIONS: Hispanic ethnicity is a risk factor and aspartate aminotransferase is a biomarker for biliary pancreatitis over other causes. Furthermore, obesity can distinguish gallstone- from sludge-induced pancreatitis. These findings may spur prospective studies to determine the optimal evaluation and management of children with biliary pancreatitis.