Pediatrics & Therapeutics
Open Access

Editorial Note on Pediatrics

Laura Gray^{* *}Correspondence: Laura Gray, Department of Pediatrics, University of Liege, United Kingdom, Email:

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Pediatrics includes the medical aspects of neonates, children and adolescents. Management of physical behavior and mental care of children falls under the scope of pediatrics. There are differences in adult and pediatric medicine, as the physiology of neonates is different from that of adult. The distribution of medicine differs in children and adults. Drugs require acids for degradation in the stomach. Due to less acid secretion, infants have high pH condition which leads to greater absorption in children. Body fluid and water content decreases in infant as they grow. Some drugs are given in intervals with certain doses due to body composition differences. Based on the specificity of the enzyme that acts upon the drug, the metabolism differs in neonates and children. Neonates are given the drugs in larger intervals as the clearance of the drug from the body is slower in their kidneys when compared to fully developed kidneys of the young children. This leads to drug build up in the kidneys of the preterm neonates and infants. Due to larger size of the kidneys in children, the drugs can be eliminated easily. Pediatrics include subspecialties such as Adolescent medicine, child abuse pediatrics, pediatrics allergy and immunology, pediatric endocrinology, pediatric emergency medicine, pediatric infectious disease, pediatric rheumatology, child neurology, child and adolescent psychiatry, pediatric anesthesiology, pediatric dermatology, pediatric surgery, pediatric radiology, pediatric ophthalmology, pediatric cardiac critical care, pediatric hematology, Neonatology, pediatric dentistry, pediatric plastic surgery, pediatric otolaryngology, pediatric urology, medical toxicology, pediatric neuro oncology, pediatric nephrology. Vitamin A deficiency is seen in children and severe deficiency in vitamin A leads to blindness. Anemia is also a serious problem among children. Deficiency of Iron is the primary cause for Anemia. Growth and development are very crucial for infants and neonates. There are different factors that affect the growth of children such as nutrition, heredity, psychological factors, metabolic diseases, acute diseases, chronic diseases, physical surroundings such as poor hygiene. There are some developmental dysfunctions that occur in children such as speech disturbances like articulation difficulty, stammering and delayed speech. Development of the children depends on the supply of nutrients adequately. The nutrients should be consists of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins. Deficiency of carbohydrates results in under nutrition and ketosis. Deficiency of fats may leads to underweight and excess of dietary fat leads to obesity. Deficiency of metabolism fats leads to hyperlipidemia. Malnutrition is a serious pediatric problem which results in high mortality rate. There are two types of Malnutrition: Marasmus and Kwashiorkor. Marasmus is caused due to inadequate diet. The secondary cause for this condition may be chronic vomiting due to congenital hypertopic pyloric stenosis, chronic infections and congenital diseases, serious organic disorders of brain, kidney and metabolic disorders. Kwashiorkor is caused due to proteinenergy malnutrition. Symptoms that occur are Apathy, diarrhea, malabsorption syndrome, Edema, muscular wasting, dry and scaly skin, carzy-pavement dermatosis, deep fissures. There are several factors that develop vitamin deficiency such as deficient intake, faulty absorption like malabsorption syndrome, increased demand due to metabolic diseases or infection. Deficiency of Vitamin A may cause nyctalopia, xerophthalmia, Bitot’s spots, phyrnoderma. When Vitamin A is provide in excess, it causes bone growth increase. Vitamin B consists of number of substances which help in enzyme functions such as thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, pyridoxine, biotin, pantothenic acid, choline, folic acid, cyanocobalamin. Deficiency of thiamine leads to Beri-beri. Deficiency of riboflavin leads to Ariboflavinosis which causes Oral lesions, eye lesions, skin lesions. Deficiency of nicotinic acid leads to pellagra which causes dermatitis, stomatitis, gastrointestinal symptoms and microcytic anemia. Pyridoxine deficiency results in convulsions, neuritis, skin changes. Folic acid deficiency causes megaloblastic anemia. Timely diagnosis and treatment is given by performing diagnostic tests and prescribing medication.

Acknowledgement

The author is very thankful to all the associated personnel in any reference that contributed in/for the purpose of this research.

Conflict of Interest

The author has declared that no competing interests exist.