The hallmarks of sickle cell disease are anemia and vasculopathy. The aim of this study was to assess the association between air pollution and children's emergency room visits of sickle cell patients. We adopted a case-crossover design. Daily counts of children's and adolescents' sickle cell disease emergency room visits from the pediatric emergency unit in São Paulo, Brazil, were evaluated from September 1999 to December 2004, matching by temperature, humidity and controlling for day of the week. Interquartile range increases of the four-day moving averages of PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, and O3 were associated with increases of 18.9% (95%CI: 11.2-26.5), 19% (95%CI: 8.3-29.6), 14.4% (95%CI: 6.5-22.4), 16,5% (95%CI: 8.9-24.0), and 9.8% (95%CI: 1.1-18.6) in total sickle cell emergency room visits, respectively. When the analyses were stratified by pain, PM10 was found to be 40.3% higher than in sickle cell patients without pain symptoms. Exposure to air pollution can affect the cardiovascular health of children and may promote a significant health burden in a sensitive group.

El estudio tuvo como objetivo conocer la experiencia de niños y adolescentes en cuidados paliativos en el manejo diario del dolor. La investigación cualitativa fue realizada con entrevistas semi-estructuradas con seis niños entre siete y 17 años. La teoría del Desarrollo cognitivo de Piaget fue utilizada como Marco teórico y la Historia Oral como Referencial Metodológico. Cuatro temas fueron encontrados: describiendo el dolor; buscando una vida más próxima de la normalidad, a pesar del dolor y la enfermedad; utilizando varias alternativas para el control del dolor y viviendo la autoimagen perjudicada. A pesar del dolor ser un agente limitante en la vida de los niños y adolescentes, verificamos que enfrentaban el dolor diariamente y, que así mismo, tenían vida además del dolor y la enfermedad. Adicionamos, aun, la importancia de los enfermeros comprender que el eficaz manejo del dolor es esencial para una vida mas próxima de la normalidad, reduciendo su sufrimiento. DESCRIPTORES ABSTRACTA qualitative study was conducted with semi-structured interviews with the aim of understanding the experience of children and adolescents under palliative care when managing pain daily and how they describe the intensity, quality and location of pain. We used Piaget's theory of cognitive development as a theoretical framework and oral history as a methodological framework. We found four themes: describing pain; seeking a life closer to normality, despite pain and disease; using a variety of alternatives for pain control; and living with damaged physical appearance. Although pain is a limiting factor in the lives of children and adolescents, we found that they faced their daily pain and still had a life beyond pain and illness. In addition, we highlight the relevance of nurses' understanding that effective management of pain in children is essential for a normal life and less suffering.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:In spite of its importance, neuropathic pain is underestimated and undertreated in childhood. Although many conditions causing neuropathic pain in adults are uncommon during childhood, most therapeutic strategies effective for adults were extrapolated for the pediatric population. This study aimed at bringing to light peculiarities of neuropathic pain in children, which shall contribute for its better recognition in childhood and adolescence. CONTENTS: Pubmed, Scielo and Lilacs databases were queried to identify studies and literature reviews on neuropathic pain during childhood and adolescence. CONCLUSION: Neuropathic pain treatment in childhood and adolescence should be multimodal, including pharmacological treatment, rehabilitation and psychological support. Rehabilitation, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and integrative therapies should be part of the integral treatment in childhood and adolescence and vary in a case-by-case basis. Keywords: Adolescence, Childhood, Children, Integrative therapy, Neuropathic pain, Occupational therapy, Pharmacology, Rehabilitation. RESUMO JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS:Apesar de sua importância a dor neuropáti-ca é subestimada e subtratada na infância. Embora muitas das condições que causem dor neuropática no adulto sejam raras na infância; grande parte das estratégias terapêuticas que demonstraram ser eficazes em adultos foi extrapolada para uso na população pediátrica. O objetivo deste estudo artigo foi trazer à luz peculiaridades da dor neuropática na criança, o que contribuirá para seu melhor reconhecimento na infância e adolescência. CONTEÚDO: Foram realizadas buscas nos bancos de dados Pubmed, Scielo e Lilacs, identificando-se estudos e revisões da literatura sobre dor neuropática na infância e adolescência. CONCLUSÃO: O tratamento da dor neuropática na infância e adolescência deve ser multimodal, incluindo tratamento farmacológico, reabilitação e suporte psicológico. Reabilitação, fisioterapia, terapia ocupacional e terapias integrativas devem fazer parte do tratamento integral na infância e adolescência, e variam conforme as necessidades em cada caso.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:It is already known that the painful experiences to which the newborn is subjected may be related to future reactions and differences in the behavioral response to pain in newborns from different birth routes. This study aimed to evaluate the response to pain in infants born by cesarean section and vaginal delivery routes. METHODS: This is a prospective cohort study. Newborns born at full term were allocated into two groups: cesarean section and vaginal delivery. The intramuscular vitamin K injection was performed as an acute pain stimulus because it is a routine injection at birth. The newborns were evaluated for pain on two scales, a one-dimensional, the Neonatal Facial Coding System, and a multidimensional, the COMFORT Behavior Scale (Comfort b), in addition to heart rate counting, moments before, immediately after and 10 minutes after the stimuli. Students t-test was used for statistical analyzes, and the level of significance was 5%. RESULTS: Eighty-three children were evaluated. The pain intensity assessed by both scales before the pain stimulus was higher in the cesarean section group, but not statistically significant. Heart rate values after the stimulus showed a statistically significant difference (p<0.05), higher in the cesarean section group than in the vaginal delivery.

Objective: This study was developed to assess the impact of air pollutants on sickle cell morbidity in children and adolescents. Methods we examined the associations between daily air pollutants concentrations (PM 10 , SO 2 , NO 2 , CO, and O 3 ) and sickle cell (ICD10th revision: D57) emergency room visits, from September 1999 to December 2004. We applied a case-crossover design with referent exposure days chosen using the time-stratified approach such that exposures on the case day were compared to exposures on days of the same month with the same value of temperature as the case day, controlling for day of the week. Season, weather, and slowly varying covariates were controlled for by matching. We also adopted models where exposures on the case day were compared to exposures on the same day of the week or on every third day. Effects estimates were also stratified by the two main causes of sickle cell emergency room visits, pain and respiratory were associated with increases of 19.2% (95% CI: 11.2 -27.8), 15.6% (95% CI: 6.3 -25.8), 14.5% (95% CI: 6.6 -23.0), 15,1% (95% CI: 7.7 -23.1), and 10% (95% CI: 1,3 -18,6) in total sickle cell emergency room visits, respectively. When the analyses were stratified by pain, the main clinical manifestation of vase-occlusion process, increases in visits of sickle cell patients with pain (23.1%, 95%CI:11.0 -36.5) due to an interquartile range increase of the 3-day moving averages of PM 10 were 43% higher than in sickle cell patients without pain. Conclusions: this study found that the effects of air pollutants on children's health are not limited to respiratory diseases. Also, among sickle cell patients, the main manifestation of adverse effect was associated with inflammatory process of vases, reproducing results already observed among healthy and non-healthy adults and elderly people. Finally, this study showed that the burden of air pollution on health has not been definitively estimated and other outcomes deserve further investigation.Descripts: 1. air pollution, 2. sickle cell disease, 3.emergency department, 4. study case cross-over 5. pain, 6. oxidative stress, 7. children.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics of services in Brazil that compound the Brazilian Pediatric Palliative Care (PPC) Network. Methods: An online survey was conducted among representatives from PPC services. A total of 90 services from Brazil completed the online survey and answered a questionnaire about the service’s characterization, health professionals working in PPC, access to opioid prescription and education, and research in PPC. Results: In total, 80 services (88.9%) were created after 2010, 52 (57.9%) were in the southeast region, 56 (62.2%) were in public hospitals, 63 (70%) had up to 100 beds, and 57 (63.3%) were at the tertiary level. Notably, 88 (97.8%) had a physician in the team and 68 (75.5%) dedicated part-time to PPC. Also, 33 (36.7%) revealed concern with the care of health professionals and 36 (40%) reported difficulty or no access to opioid prescription. Research studies were reported to be conducted in 29 (32.2%) services. Conclusions: This mapping points out to a concentration of PPC services in the southeast region, with part-time professional dedication, and the need to improve professionals’ care. Difficulty in opioid access was reported. It is necessary to extend PPC participation to other Brazilian regions, increase time dedicated to PPC, improve professionals’ care and improve access to opioid prescription.

The objective of this study was to answer several questions related to the assessment and treatment of fever, as well as other controversies that exist during its management in pediatric patients. First, an advisory board with medical experts was conducted to discuss the clinical journey of these patients, considering the main challenges and possible solutions. After this discussion, a non-systematic literature review was performed, between November 2019 and January 2020, to collect the most relevant evidence available in the scientific databases MEDLINE, Lilacs, and SciELO. A narrative review was carried out based on scientific evidence and on extensive experience of experts in clinical practice. The experts developed a set of recommendations and clarifications about the assessment of the severity of fever in pediatrics, the need for treatment and the choice of the most appropriate antipyretic. The most common controversies in the management of fever in pediatric patients were also addressed, such as alternating antipyretics, persistent fever, and dose equivalence. In primary management of pediatric patients, fever should be seen as a relevant symptom that requires treatment with antipyretics in potentially more complex or severe cases, when it causes discomfort to children or is associated with infectious diseases.