מאמרים רפואיים

Background: Little is known about the perinatal aspects of COVID-19. Objective: To summarize available evidence and provide perinatologists/neonatologists with tools for managing their patients. Methods: Analysis of available literature on COVID-19 using Medline and Google scholar. Results: From scant data: vertical transmission from maternal infection during the third trimester probably does not occur or likely it occurs very rarely. Consequences of COVID-19 infection among women during early pregnancy remain unknown. We cannot conclude if pregnancy is a risk factor for more severe disease in women with COVID-19. Little is known about disease severity in neonates, and from very few samples, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 has not been documented in human milk. Links to websites of organizations with updated COVID-19 information are provided. Infographics summarize an approach to the pregnant woman or neonate with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. Conclusions: As the pandemic continues, more data will be available that could lead to changes in current knowledge and recommendations.

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) is commonly observed in children, particularly during the first year of life. Pharmacological therapy is mostly reserved for symptomatic infants diagnosed with GER disease (GERD), usually as defined in a recent consensus statement. The purpose of the present article was to review the reported adverse effects of pharmacological agents used in the treatment of paediatric GERD. We conducted this review using the electronic journal database Pubmed and Cochrane database systematic reviews using the latest 10-year period (1 January 2003 to 31 December 2012). Adverse effects have been reported in at least 23% of patients treated with histamine H2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) and 34% of those treated with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), and mostly include headaches, diarrhoea, nausea (H2RAs and PPIs) and constipation (PPIs). Acid suppression may place immune-deficient infants and children, or those with indwelling catheters, at risk for the development of lower respiratory tract infections and nosocomial sepsis. Prokinetic agents have many adverse effects, without major benefits to support their routine use.