30-Second Takeaway
- Blended community health worker–delivered parenting support modestly improves early child development and home stimulation.
- Virtual pediatric sick visits slightly increase short-term low-acuity ED use compared with in-person care.
- Antibiotic use in older adults is high, driven by broad-spectrum agents, highlighting stewardship gaps in primary care.
- Person-centered contraceptive counseling remains uncommon for adolescents, yet strongly predicts use of preferred methods.
- Systematic social-needs screening with linkage can reduce food insecurity in pediatric populations.
Week ending February 7, 2026
Primary care levers for child development, chronic disease prevention, and equitable access
Blended CHW parenting program modestly boosts child development in primary care
This single-blind RCT in Jamaica enrolled 627 children aged 3–28 months through government primary care clinics. Community health workers provided an 8‑month parenting program with alternating home visits and phone calls every two weeks. Compared with wait-list controls, children had higher overall developmental quotients (effect size 0.17 SD) and fine motor scores (0.19 SD). Parents showed improved HOME scores for involvement, responsivity, acceptance, and learning materials (effect size 0.25 SD). Benefits were modest but achieved within routine primary care infrastructure using a blended in-person/remote delivery model.
Virtual pediatric sick visits slightly raise short-term ED use, mainly low acuity
This population-based cohort included 2 608 503 Ontario children and youth with a primary care sick visit from 2020–2024. Virtual visits comprised 27.6% of encounters and were compared with in-person visits using adjusted models clustered by physician. For ages 3 months to <2 years, virtual care increased 3‑day ED use (4.4% vs 3.5%; adjusted risk ratio 1.49). For ages 2–17 years, virtual visits also increased ED use (2.2% vs 2.4%; adjusted risk ratio 1.19). Virtual visits were associated with more low-acuity ED visits, without increases in high-acuity visits or ED visits leading to hospitalization or death. Infants <3 months had similar ED risk regardless of modality, suggesting careful triage can maintain safety.
High, broad-spectrum antibiotic use in older adults, irrespective of dementia status
This national study followed 13 659 community-dwelling Australians aged ≥70 years using linked prescribing data from 2010–2020. Antibiotic dispensing rose to 1651 prescriptions per 1000 person-years, with an annual prevalence around 47%. Broad-spectrum agents were dispensed twice as often as narrow-spectrum antibiotics, indicating substantial stewardship opportunity. People with dementia had higher crude dispensing before and after diagnosis, but dementia was not an independent predictor (IRR 1.06). Female sex, polypharmacy, pre-frailty, and higher depressive symptoms were associated with higher antibiotic use, identifying groups for targeted interventions.
References
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Additional Reads
Optional additional studies from this edition.