Picky eating is a common disorder during childhood often causing considerable parental anxiety. This study examined the incidence, point prevalence, persistence and characteristics of picky eating in a prospective study of 120 children and their parents followed from 2 to 11 years. At any given age between 13% and 22% of the children were reported to be picky eaters. Incidence declined over time whereas point prevalence increased indicating that picky eating is often a chronic problem with 40% having a duration of more than 2-years. Those with longer duration differed from those with short duration having more strong likes and dislikes of food and not accepting new foods. Parents of picky eaters were more likely to report that their children consumed a limited variety of foods, required food prepared in specific ways, expressed stronger likes and dislikes for food, and threw tantrums when denied foods. They were also more likely to report struggles over feeding, preparing special meals, and commenting on their child's eating. Hence, picky eating is a prevalent concern of parents and may remain so through childhood. It appears to be a relatively stable trait reflecting an individual eating style. However no significant effects on growth were observed.

Objective-To evaluate patterns of antipsychotic use.Design, setting, and measurements-We used nationally representative data from the IMS Health National Disease and Therapeutic Index to describe outpatient antipsychotic use. The primary outcome was the volume of visits where antipsychotics were used for specific indications (treatment visits). We also quantified use without U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval (off-label use) and off-label use with compendium data suggesting an uncertain evidence base.Results-Antipsychotic use increased from 6.2 million (M) treatment visits (95% CI, 5.4-7.0) in 1995 to 16.7M visits (15.5-18.2) in 2006, then declined to 14.3M visits (13.0-15.6) by 2008. A shift occurred from typical agents in 1995 (84% of all antipsychotic visits) to atypical agents by 2008 (93%). As they declined, typical medications shifted towards use in schizophrenia (30% in 1995 to 48% 2008). In contrast, use of atypical agents expanded for bipolar affective disorder (10% to 34%), remained stable for depression (12% to 14%), and declined for schizophrenia (56% to 23%). Overall, antipsychotic use for indications without FDA approval increased from 4.4M visits in 1995 to 9.0M in 2008. The estimated cost associated with off-label use in 2008 was US $6.0 billion.Conclusions-Atypical use has grown far beyond substitution for the now infrequently used typical agents. Antipsychotics are increasingly used for conditions where FDA approval and associated clinical evidence is less certain. Despite the value of innovation, the benefits of widening atypical antipsychotic use should be weighed against their cost, regulatory status, and incomplete nature of available evidence.

Identification of groups of children at high risk for becoming overweight offers the potential for early intervention to reduce the intergenerational transfer of obesity. This is an area for future research because the nature of effective intervention is at present unclear. There is a suggestion that focused behavior change efforts on one target such as reducing the intake of sweetened beverages may be more successful than attempts to make broader dietary changes. There is also evidence that targeting parental behaviors may be more effective than interventions directed solely toward children, suggesting that modification of the environment that a child is exposed to during early development may have a lasting effect.

Objective To ascertain whether a parent education program based on Satter’s division of responsibility in feeding children (DOR) is effective in enhancing parent/child feeding interactions for children with an overweight/obese parent. The primary hypothesis was that the intervention would decrease parental pressure to eat. Methods Sixty-two families with a child aged 2–4 years with at least one overweight/obese parent were randomly allocated using a cluster design to either the DOR intervention or a control group. The control group focused on increasing family consumption of healthy foods and activity levels, and enhancing child sleep duration. The primary outcome was parent pressure on their child to eat. Results The DOR intervention was superior to the control group in reducing pressure to eat. Two moderators of pressure to eat were found: disinhibition of eating and hunger. DOR group parents irrespective of disinhibition levels lowered pressure to eat whereas control group parents with low disinhibition increased pressure to eat. There were similar findings for hunger. Gender moderated restrictive feeding with DOR parents lowering restriction more than the control group in girls only. Conclusion The DOR intervention was more effective in reducing parent pressure to eat and food restriction (in girls only) than the control group.

Guided mentoring in evidence-based medicine appears promising for further study.

Promoting activity independent of weight-management appears promising for further study.

Evidence reviewed in this paper suggests that there is an increased risk for rapid weight gain and overweight in children who are perceived by their caregivers as having difficult temperamental characteristics. Recent findings indicate that parental perceptions of difficult temperament mediate the effect of the most potent risk factor, parental weight, in the development of childhood overweight. Further prospective trials that make tightly focused, a priori predictions regarding well defined temperamental characteristics and their potential relationship to a single well defined outcome measure would strengthen the validity of these findings. Parental behaviors associated with feeding differ between children who are perceived as having difficult temperaments versus those who are perceived as having easier temperaments. Parental prompting and control over feeding appears to occur more frequently among overweight parents who perceive their children as being difficult. Such control has been associated with overweight in laboratory observations of parental feeding practices. Randomized controlled trials that attempt to modify parental feeding interactions with high risk children would be indicated to determine the worth of such interventions in addressing the obesity epidemic.

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