Princess Health and Princess Health andUK study reports high rates of trauma exposure in Kentucky children who are raised by their grandparents.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andUK study reports high rates of trauma exposure in Kentucky children who are raised by their grandparents.Princessiccia

children children's health chronic disease grandparents

Gusty 19:01 Add Comment

The University of Kentucky Center for Trauma and Children sent out a report about the well-being of trauma-exposed families in which a grandparent is the primary caregiver and where no biological parent is present. The report calls these families "grandfamilies." In Kentucky, more than 67,000 children live with a grandparent, and biological parents are absent in more than half of those cases. "According to the study, substance abuse, child maltreatment and incarceration were the top three reasons these children lived with a grandparent," Elizabeth Adams writes for UK Public Relations.

The report also found that 73 percent of children in the sample of grandfamilies had suffered one or more traumatic experiences, and more than 16 percent had suffered four or more. Forty-three percent of the grandparents said their grandchild had a special mental-health need, and more than 17 percent said their grandchild had been diagnosed with a disorder related to trauma. Also, the grandparents participating in the study said they suffered from an average of at least two chronic illnesses.

Almost 300 grandparent caregivers participated in the study through the Caregiver Program for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren between March 2013 and December 2013. Both rural and urban families were interviewed. The study highlights a need for more specialized services for traumatic stress in children and "enhanced legal, financial and health care resources for their caregivers," Adams writes.

Dr. Ginny Sprang, director of the UK Center for Trauma and Children, served as the principal investigator for the study. To schedule an interview about the study, contact Elizabeth Adams at ElizabethAdams@uky.edu. Electronic copies of the report are also available.

Princess Health and 1 in 4 grandparents keep meds where kids can reach them.Princessiccia

Princess Health and 1 in 4 grandparents keep meds where kids can reach them.Princessiccia

children children's health drug abuse drugs grandparents over-the-counter medicine prescription drug abuse prescription drugs

Gusty 17:56 Add Comment

A new poll shows nearly one in four grandparents say they store prescription medicines in places that can be accessed by children. Unintentional poisonings cause more visits to the emergency room for young children � one every 10 minutes � than car accidents, to say nothing of the threat of theft, a factor in the prescription-drug epidemic that is killing more Kentuckians than such accidents.

The most common type of prescriptions that are accidentally ingested are opioids, the poll found. The most common type of over-the-counter medicine ingested is acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, reports research-reporting service Newswise.

The poll found that 23 percent of grandparents and 5 percent of parents store prescription meds in easy-to-access places. Eighteen percent of grandparents and 8 percent of parents said they store over-the-counter medicine in easily accessible spots.

"Emergency room visits for accidental poisonings among young children have become much more frequent in the last decade," said Matthew Davis, director of the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. "We hope the results of this poll are a reminder to parents, grandparents and all those who care for young children: check around your homes to make sure that medicines are safely stored out of reach." (Read more)

Though the numbers are on the rise, on the whole, American children are safer than they ever were, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of death from unintentional injuries dropped 29 percent from 2000 to 2009. Deaths dropped from 12,400 in 2000 to about 9,100 in 2009.

Poisoning death rates rose dramatically, however� going up 91 percent in youths aged 15 to 19, "a byproduct of the rising prescription-drug abuse among teens who either obtain the pills illegally or swipe them from medicine cabinets of their parents or others," reports Timothy Martin for The Wall Street Journal. (Read more)