Child hospitalizations for COVID-19 jumped 30% this past week as the Omicron variant spread like wildfire throughout the United States.

By Dec. 28, the country had an average of 260 pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations each day, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Cont...

Ask a teacher whether school uniforms make a difference in their classrooms, and many are sure of it.

They insist those crisp shirts and ties and those modest plaid skirts help kids focus on their classwork, level the playing field and boost attendance, among other perks.

But a new study says it's just not so.

Turns ou...

Spinal cord injuries in childhood are devastating no matter how they happen, but new research suggests that kids felled by gunshots are even worse off than those who suffer such an injury nonviolently.

About 13% of spinal cord injuries in U.S. children are gun-related.

Of course kids make up the bulk of people at schools, but new evidence shows that requiring masks for adults working at schools greatly reduces the severity of COVID-19 outbreaks.

In the study, the researchers found that children were most often the first identified cases in schools. However, outbreaks in schools were more severe when an adult was the first case, and mask wearing by adult...

A new program to boost the supply of cancer medicines for children in low- and middle-income countries has been announced by the World Health Organization (WHO) and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The hospital is making a six-year, $200 million investment to launch the Global Platform for Access to Childhood C...

Researchers who say they have discovered what causes kids to have "chalky teeth" predict it could lead to new ways to fight it and cut cavities by half.

One in five children have chalky teeth -- visible as discolored enamel spots -- which can cause severe toothache and decay, sometimes resulting in abscesses, extractions and other problems.

"We can't yet prevent chalky teeth from de...

If your children struggle with their weight, new research suggests they may also suffer from diseases once seen only in adults.

Stiffening of the arteries, which can lead to early heart attacks and strokes, and type 2 diabetes were found in many of the more than 600 obese children, adolescents and young adults studied. And the problem is only getting worse: According to the U.S. Centers f...

Many parents want to make the holiday season magical for their kids, but for some the stress they feel trying to live up to that ideal may actually be doing the opposite.

A poll from Michigan Medicine found that about 1 in 5 parents said their ...

Kids with autism have low levels of a protein that quiets overactive brain cells, which may explain why so many have epilepsy, according to a new study.

Because the protein can be detected in cerebrospinal fluid, it may have promise as a marker to diagnose autism and as a potential treatment target for the epilepsy tha...

Unvaccinated students exposed to COVID-19 can remain in the classroom as long as they're regularly tested for the virus at school, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

The CDC pointed to two new studies from California and Illinois as evidence that school districts can...

Two doses of a pediatric Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine failed to spur an adequate immune response in children aged 2 to 5, the companies announced Friday.

That's a setback for parents hoping to get their youngest children immunized against the new coronavirus as soon as possible.

The pediatric trials used a 3 microgram (mcg) dose of the vaccine -- equivalent to about one-ten...

There may be a silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, with U.S. health officials reporting an "unprecedented" decline in teens' use of alcohol, marijuana, other illegal drugs and vaping.

"We have never seen such dramatic decreases in drug use among teens in just a one-year period," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"These data are unpreced...

Children and teens who use livestreaming gaming platforms may be bombarded with influencer-endorsed ads for energy drinks, junk food and alcohol, new research shows.

"This type of marketing can normalize high-fat, high-sugar and high-sodium foods at a time in young viewers' live...

When it comes to fending off new viruses, baby has Mom and Dad beat.

An infant's immune system is better than an adult's at combating new viruses, researchers say.

Compared to adults, babies get a lot of viral respiratory infections, but babies are dealing with these viruses for the first time, study author Donna Farber pointed out.

“Adults don't get sick as often because we...

A new study confirms yet another consequence of the pandemic for children and teenagers: Eating disorders, and hospitalizations for them, rose sharply in 2020.

The study of six hospitals across Canada found new diagnoses of anorexia nearly doubled during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the rate of hospitalization among those patients was almost threefold higher, versus pre-pa...

Long COVID can be tough to diagnose in children, but there are a number of things to look for.

“Many children don't have any symptoms when they have a COVID infection,” said Dr. Sindhu Mohandas, a pediatric infectious disease specialist and attending physician at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. “So if the symptoms of long COVID appear later, it can be difficult to link them to the ...

Fever-related seizures in young children can be alarming for parents, but they're usually not life-threatening, an expert says.

During a so-called febrile seizure, a child may lose consciousness, experience body stiffness and have full-body shaking. The seizures -- which typically last a minute or two, but can go on longer -- rarely require medication, and the majority don't require hospi...

Children with the rare cancer neuroblastoma often succumb to the disease despite aggressive treatment. But researchers have found that adding an experimental antibody to that treatment, right off the bat, may improve their outlook.

Of 64 children treated with the antibody in a clinical trial, 74% were still alive and free of a recurrence three years later. That compares with historical ra...

Children with hard-to-control asthma may get relief from adding an injectable antibody drug to their standard treatment, a clinical trial has found.

The drug, called dupilumab (Dupixent), has been available for several years to treat stubborn asthma in adults and teenagers. Based on the new findings, the