BackgroundSocial media has emerged as a potentially powerful medium for communication with adolescents and young adults around their health choices.ObjectiveThe goal of this systematic review is to identify research on the use of social media for interacting with adolescents and young adults in order to achieve positive health outcomes.MethodsA MEDLINE/PubMed electronic database search was performed between January 1, 2002 and October 1, 2013, using terms to identify peer-reviewed research in which social media and other Web 2.0 technologies were an important feature. We used a systematic approach to retrieve papers and extract relevant data.ResultsWe identified 288 studies involving social media, of which 87 met criteria for inclusion; 75 studies were purely observational and 12 were interventional. The ways in which social media was leveraged by these studies included (1) observing adolescent and young adult behavior (n=77), (2) providing health information (n=13), (3) engaging the adolescent and young adult community (n=17), and (4) recruiting research participants (n=23). Common health topics addressed included high-risk sexual behaviors (n=23), alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use (n=19), Internet safety (n=8), mental health issues (n=18), medical conditions (n=11), or other specified issues (n=12). Several studies used more than one social media platform and addressed more than one health-related topic.ConclusionsSocial media technologies offer an exciting new means for engaging and communicating with adolescents and young adults; it has been successfully used to engage this age group, identify behaviors, and provide appropriate intervention and education. Nevertheless, the majority of studies to date have been preliminary and limited in their methodologies, and mostly center around evaluating how adolescents and young adults use social media and the resulting implications on their health. Although these explorations are essential, further exploration and development of these strategies into building effective interventions is necessary.

Background Several studies have reported an association between use of over-the-counter antipyretics during pregnancy or infancy and increased asthma risk. An important potential limitation of these observational studies is confounding by indication. Objectives We investigated the association of antipyretic intake, 1) during pregnancy and 2) during the first year of life (infancy), with asthma-related outcomes, before and after controlling for early life respiratory infections. Methods We included 1490 mother-child pairs in Project Viva, a longitudinal pre-birth cohort study. We categorized prenatal acetaminophen exposure as the maximum intake (never, 1–9 or ≥ 10 times) in early or mid-pregnancy, and ibuprofen intake as presence or absence in early pregnancy. We expressed intakes of antipyretics in infancy as never, 1–5, 6–10, or >10 times. We examined the associations of acetaminophen and ibuprofen (per unit increase in exposure category) during pregnancy and infancy with wheeze, asthma and allergen sensitization in early (3–5 y) (n= 1419) and mid-childhood (7–10 y) (n= 1220). Results Unadjusted models showed an elevated asthma risk in early childhood for higher infant acetaminophen (OR 1.21, 95% CI 1.04, 1.41) and ibuprofen (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.19, 1.52) intake. Controlling for respiratory infections attenuated estimates for acetaminophen (OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.88, 1.22) and ibuprofen (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.05, 1.36). Prenatal acetaminophen was associated with increased asthma (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.02, 1.58) in early but not mid-childhood. Conclusions Adjustment for respiratory infections in early life substantially diminished associations between infant antipyretics and early childhood asthma. Respiratory infections should be accounted for in studies of antipyretics and asthma, to mitigate bias due to confounding by indication.

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In healthy term newborns, significant desaturations were observed in both car beds and car seats as compared with hospital cribs. This study was limited by lack of documentation of sleep stage. Therefore, these safety devices should only be used for protection during travel and not as replacements for cribs.