News in brief - July 11, 2011

AAP policy cites need to monitor children's media use

To help curb childhood obesity, pediatricians should ask parents how much time their child spends each day with screen media, which includes watching television and using a computer.

They also should inquire about whether there is a television or an unrestricted and unmonitored Internet connection in the house, says an American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement published online June 27 in Pediatrics.

The statement says watching television could be contributing to childhood obesity by increasing sedentary activity, interfering with normal sleep patterns and promoting unhealthy eating through advertisements and other programming (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21708800).

The AAP recommends that pediatricians counsel parents on limiting their children's noneducational screen time to no more than two hours a day and to not place televisions and Internet connections in their bedrooms. Physicians also should encourage parents to discuss food advertising with their children and teach them about appropriate nutrition.

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CT screening reduces lung cancer mortality in high-risk people

Routine lung screening of heavy smokers and former smokers using low-dose computed tomography scans reduces lung cancer mortality by 20%, according to a study published online June 29 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Researchers examined data on 53,454 people 55 to 74 who were at high risk for lung cancer. Participants were randomly assigned to undergo three annual screenings with either computed tomography or chest radiography.

Overall, the lung cancer mortality rate was lower among those who received CT screening than in the chest radiography group (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21714641).

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