Harvard Health Content API

Growing numbers of U.S. children are being diagnosed with eczema, a new report says. The report comes from the American Academy of Pediatrics. It offers updated information and advice for pediatricians. These doctors treat most of the children with this condition. Eczema is an allergic skin condition. It is also called atopic dermatitis. Most people are diagnosed before age 5. A national health survey found that eczema rates rose for U.S. children between 2000 and 2010. Eczema increased from 9% to 17% among black children. Rates rose from 5% to 10% for Hispanics and 8% to 13% for non-Hispanic whites. Treatments include skin care with mild soap and regular use of moisturizers. Steroid creams or ointments also can be applied to the skin. They can help to control the condition and ease symptoms. Baths with diluted bleach can help to prevent infections.

No matter how well they control their blood sugar, people with type 1 diabetes have at least twice the normal risk of early death, a new study finds. The study included 34,000 people with type 1 diabetes. They were compared with nearly 170,000 non-diabetics. Their average age was 36 when the study began. Researchers kept track of them for an average of 8 years. During the study, 8% of those with diabetes and 2.9% of non-diabetics died. About 2.7% of diabetics and 0.9% of the other group died of heart disease or stroke. Risk of death was even higher for diabetics with poor control of their blood sugar. Those with the highest average blood sugar were 8.5 times as likely to die as those without diabetes. Their heart-related death rates were 10.5 times as high. Diabetics with the lowest average blood sugar were 2.4 times as likely to die during the study as those without diabetes.

About 23% of U.S. high school students use some form of tobacco, new survey data show. And about 90% of those teens smoke cigarettes, cigars, pipes or hookah, the survey found. The new study was based on a 2013 national survey of middle and high school students. They were asked if they had ever used tobacco products and if they were current users (in the last 30 days). Whites were most likely to use cigarettes (14%). So were Hispanics (13.4%). Black high school students were much more likely to use cigars (14.7%) than cigarettes (9%). More than 12% of high school students said they used 2 or more tobacco products. About 4.5% used e-cigarettes, also called “vaping.” Use of all products was lower among middle school students. About 6.5% were current tobacco users. About 46% of high school students and nearly 18% of middle school students had ever tried a tobacco product.