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The Pediatric Assessment Triangle (PAT) has become the cornerstone for the Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals course, sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This concept for emergency assessment of children has been taught to more than 170,000 health care providers worldwide. It has been incorporated into most standardized American life support courses, including the Pediatric Advanced Life Support course, Advanced Pediatric Life Support course, and the Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course. The PAT is a rapid and simple observational tool suitable for emergency pediatric assessment regardless of presenting complaint or underlying diagnosis. This article describes the PAT and its role in emergency pediatric assessment.

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Objective To identify current maternal and infant predictors of infant mortality, including maternal sociodemographic and economic status, maternal perinatal smoking and obesity, mode of delivery, and infant birthweight and gestational age. Methods This retrospective study analyzed data from the linked birth and infant death files (birth cohort) and live births from the Birth Statistical Master files (BSMF) in California compiled by the California Department of Public Health for 2007-2015. The birth cohort study comprised 4,503,197 singleton births including 19,301 infant deaths during the nine-year study period. A subpopulation to study fetal growth consisted of 4,448,300 birth cohort records including 13,891 infant deaths. Results The infant mortality rate (IMR) for singleton births decreased linearly (p <0.001) from 4.68 in 2007 to 3.90 (per 1,000 live births) in 2015. However, significant disparities in IMR were uncovered in different population groups depending upon maternal sociodemographic and economic characteristics and maternal characteristics during pregnancy. Children of African American women had almost twice the risk of infant mortality when compared with children of White women (AOR 2.12; 95% CI, 1.98-2.27; p<0.001). Infants of women with Bachelor's degrees or higher were 89% less likely to die (AOR 1.89; 95% CI, 1.76-2.04; p<0.001) when compared to infants of women with education less than high school. Infants of maternal smokers were 75% more likely to die (AOR 1.75; 95% CI, 1.58-1.93; p<0.001) than infants of nonsmokers. Infants of women who were overweight and obese during pregnancy accounted for 55% of IMR over all women in the study. More than half of the infant deaths

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Objective To determine associations between maternal cigarette smoking and adverse birth and maternal outcomes. Study Design This is a 10-year population-based retrospective cohort study including 4,971,896 resident births in California. Pregnancy outcomes of maternal smokers were compared with those of nonsmokers. The outcomes of women who stopped smoking before or during various stages of pregnancy were also investigated. Results Infants of women who smoked during pregnancy were twice as likely to have low birth weight (LBW) and be small for gestational age (SGA), 57% more likely to have very LBW (VLBW) or be a preterm birth (PTB), and 59% more likely to have a very PTB compared with infants of nonsmokers. During the study period, a significant widening of gaps developed in both rates of LBW and PTB and the percentage of SGA between infants of maternal smokers and nonsmokers. Conclusion Smoking during pregnancy is associated with a significantly increased risk of adverse birth and maternal outcomes, and differences in rates of LBW, PTB, and SGA between infants of maternal smokers and nonsmokers increased during this period. Stopping smoking before pregnancy or even during the first trimester significantly decreased the infant risks of LBW, PTB, SGA, and the maternal risk for cesarean delivery.

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