Detergent danger

Detergent danger

COLUMBUS

A new study published recently in “Pediatrics” reveals laundry detergent packets pose an increasing, and sometimes fatal, risk to young children. The findings show there were 22,000 incidents in children younger than six in 2013-2014, an increase of 17 percent.

The study compared the laundry packets to traditional laundry detergent, traditional dish detergent and dish detergent packets. The laundry packets continue to cause the highest rate of accidental poisonings in children under age 6. The increase in childhood exposures to laundry detergent packets proves the continued need for new national safety standards.

Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy, is one of the first doctors at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus to scientifically evaluate the patterns, causes and effects of laundry packets as a serious poisoning risk among children on a national scale.

Service complaints

DENVER

An analysis of nearly 35,000 online reviews of doctors nationwide has found that customer service, not physicians’ medical expertise and clinical skill, is the overwhelming reason patients complain about their health-care experiences on the Internet.

The study published in the current issue of the “Journal of Medical Practice Management” reveals that only 1 in 25 patients rating their health care providers with two stars or fewer is unhappy with his or her physical examination, diagnosis, treatment, surgery or health outcome.

The other 96 percent of patient complaints cite poor communications, disorganization and excessive delays in seeing a physician as the cause for dissatisfaction.

Forty percent of the five-star reviews complimented doctors on their bedside manners, while 28 percent complimented the staff in clinics and hospitals.

Getting exercise

COLUMBIA, Mo.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults of all ages should engage in 150 or more minutes of moderate physical activity per week. Among adults 60 or more, walking is the most common form of leisure-time physical activity because it is self-paced, low impact and does not require equipment.

Also, researchers at the University of Missouri have determined that older adults who also are pet owners benefit from the bonds they form with their canine companions. Dog-walking is associated with lower body mass index, fewer doctor visits, more frequent exercise and an increase in social benefits for seniors.

Results from the study also indicated that people with higher degrees of pet bonding were more likely to walk their dogs and to spend more time walking their dogs each time than those who reported weaker bonds. Additionally, the study showed that pet walking offers a means to socialize with pet owners and others.

The study, “Dog Walking, the Human-Animal Bond and Older Adults’ Physical Health,” recently was published by “The Gerontologist.”

New Zika conclusion

WASHINGTON, D.C.

A new conclusion linking the Zika virus to microcephaly and other severe fetal brain defects gives added urgency to the need for emergency funding to prepare for and respond to the Zika virus in the U.S., the American Public Health Association says.

Scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed and evaluated recent evidence and have confirmed the link to microcephaly, a birth defect in which a baby is born with a small head and other possible developmental problems. Babies born to mothers who have been exposed to the virus during pregnancy are most at risk.