The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has developed a new definition of metabolic syndrome to help identify children at risk. In adults, it is defined as a cluster of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus, including abdominal obesity, dyslipidaemia, glucose intolerance, and hypertension.

• In children aged 6 to less than 10 years, the IDF definition of the at-risk group consists of obesity or waist circumference greater than the 90th percentile.
• In adolescents aged 10 to less than 16 years, it can be diagnosed by abdominal obesity or waist circumference greater than the 90th percentile, or adult cutoff if lower; and the presence of 2 or more abnormal lab findings consistent with the disorder.
• For adolescents older than 16 years, existing IDF criteria for adults should be used.

Our series Diabetes (685) presents an excellent overview of metabolic syndrome while Nutrition of the Young Child (675) discusses eating habits and nutritional needs of youngsters. These programs can be used by schools for RNs, LVNs, or dieticians as well as by hospitals and other healthcare facilities for staff or patient education.

A surprisingly large number of hospital patients run the risk of a potentially fatal blood clot, but half of them are not getting treatment to prevent venous thromboembolism or formation of blood clots in a vein. This can cause serious problems such as blockage of blood vessels in the leg (deep vein thrombosis) or lungs (pulmonary embolism - PE). Studies have linked pulmonary embolism to up to 10 percent of in-hospital sudden deaths.

VTE may be a bigger threat to hospitalized Americans than once thought. One study looked at 38 million discharges from U.S. hospitals and found that about one of every three people in a hospital bed in the United States had VTE risk factors including a hospital stay of two days or more, the presence of severe medical or surgical conditions, older age and any operation involving general anesthesia. These patients should have been protected from occurrence of clot formation.

Our program on Pulmonary Embolism, which is part of the series, Acute Respiratory Disorders (119) describes the pathophysiology of VTE as well as the signs and symptoms of PE. It can be helpful to both instructors in schools of nursing as well as hospital educators for inservices, updates, or orientation of new staff.

More low-birth-weight infants are being born but older kids are heavier than ever, according to the federal government's latest snapshot of children's health in its 10th annual report, the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Our newly released program, Nursing Assessment of the Newborn (128) describes how to evaluate the neonates for risk factors such as small for gestational age or prematurity. It also describes risk factors associated with low birth weight. The two programs in this series are excellent resources for students as well as for newly-hired nurses on labor and delivery units in hospitals or birthing centers. Our series on overweight children and adolescents include Diabetes (685) and Nutrition of the Young Child (675).

Concept Media produces and distributes award winning education media for colleges, healthcare institutions, social service agencies and counseling centers throughout North America, Europe, and the South Pacific. Most programs come in VHS, DVD and CD formats. Site Licenses and Distance Learning packages are also available for our library of programs.

Concept Media is best known in the area of professional nursing education and represented in more than 95% of the nation's nursing school media libraries. We have developed partnerships with leading nursing education institutions including Brigham Young University, Drexel University, and ICN/ Washington State University College of Nursing. Concept Media is well-respected and has received numerous awards for programs on diabetes, human development, mental health, substance abuse, counseling, and addiction.

For your convenience, Concept Media also offers additional resources in the form of Instructor's Guides which are available online. And, in keeping with our mission to focus on the needs of educators in the healthcare field, we invite you to call with any suggestions, questions, program requests, or ways in which we can better serve you.

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