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IMAGE: Australia s and New Zealand s first set of clinical guidelines for children s head injuries has been created view more
Credit: Ben Hershey
Australia s and New Zealand s first set of clinical guidelines for children s head injuries has been created by a network of specialists based at the Murdoch Children s Research Institute (MCRI).
The guidelines, developed by the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) and published in
Emergency Medicine Australasia, will allow emergency department clinicians to best diagnose and treat children s head injuries while reducing unnecessary exposure to radiation from CT scans. They also address head injuries in children with underlying problems, such as a bleeding disorder.
Wednesday, 3 February 2021, 6:29 am
New medical guidelines may reduce unnecessary CT
scans, and the associated radiation, for children with head
injuries.
That’s according to Professor
Stuart Dalziel, who’s the Cure Kids Chair of Child Health
Research at the University of Auckland, and a paediatric
emergency physician at Starship Children’s Hospital in
Auckland.
New Zealand and Australia have come up with
their first joint guidelines for emergency doctors
diagnosing and treating mild to moderate head injuries in
children.
Professor Dalziel was one of the specialists
who contributed to the guidelines, developed by the
Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International
The research – published
in the journal
Drug and Alcohol Review – followed
1792 Australian high school students aged 15 in 1992, and
investigated their patterns of cannabis use across twenty
years.
It found that by the age of 35, those who had
regularly used cannabis in their early 20s were far more
likely to engage in high-risk alcohol consumption, not have
a job, and be daily smokers. They were also 20x more likely
to use illicit substances, and 60% more likely to not be in
a stable relationship. There was also a higher risk of
depression.
The study authors said: “Two-thirds of
people who use cannabis regularly started use in their early