BALTIMORE — Many parents worry too much about the danger of childhood fevers and tend to overtreat even the mildest temperatures, according to research unveiled Monday by Johns Hopkins doctors. A little fever, they say, actually might be good for kids.

The findings confirm what pediatricians have heard from panicked parents over the years — especially those who call because their child has a temperature of 99 degrees (it's not technically a fever until it hits 100.4 degrees, doctors say). Often, they report that they've given more medication than necessary for higher temperatures.

"Parents have this idea we've got to get fever down at all costs," said Dr. Michael Crocetti, a pediatrician at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and an author of the study. "Fever actually helps, for most infections, to fight the infection. It helps our immune system work better."

The Johns Hopkins Children's Center study was presented Monday at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies in Honolulu. Researchers found that parents gave their children acetaminophen and ibuprofen more often than recommended — and that some parents develop severe "fever phobia," a fear that fever will cause brain damage and death.

Only fevers above 107 degrees can cause brain damage in children, Crocetti and others said. Fevers are of concern, however, in newborns, and when a young baby has a fever over 100.3 degrees, a doctor should be called.

Breast-feeding seems to lift children's' IQs

Increased breast-feeding during the first months of life appears to raise a child's verbal IQ, according to a study of nearly 14,000 children release Monday.

The study in Archives of General Psychiatry found that 6-year-olds whose mothers were part of a program that encouraged them to breast-feed had a verbal IQ that was 7.5 points higher that children in a control group.

The researchers said their findings suggested the longer an infant is fed exclusively breast milk, the greater the IQ improvement.

Lead author Dr. Michael Kramer, a professor of pediatrics at McGill University in Montreal, said the IQ improvements were modest and might not be noticeable on an individual basis. But the increase could have a big effect on society as a whole, he said.

Psychiatric risks higher for adoptees

CHICAGO — Adolescents who were adopted as infants are significantly more likely to have a psychiatric disorder than those who were not adopted, a study released Monday has found.

While emphasizing that most of the adoptees in the study were psychologically healthy and faring well, the researchers said as a group they faced a greater risk for two psychiatric conditions: attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.

For example, about 7 in 100 adolescents studied who were not adopted met the criteria for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, which is about half the number for adopted adolescents, said lead study author Margaret Keyes, of the University of Minnesota.

Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder interferes with a person's ability to concentrate, sit still and control impulsive behavior. Young people with oppositional defiant disorder are uncooperative and hostile toward authority figures in a way that seriously impairs their day-to-day functioning.

The study was published in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Smoke-free eateries may influence teens

BOSTON — A Massachusetts study suggests that restaurant smoking bans may play a big role in persuading teens not to become smokers.

Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, the researchers reported in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The findings back up the idea that smoking bans discourage tobacco use in teens by sending the message that smoking is frowned upon in the community, as well as simply by reducing their exposure to smokers in public places, said Dr. Michael Siegel, of Boston University School of Public Health, the study's lead author.

Also

Defying popular wisdom about wealthy countries and coronary disease, a new study published last week in The Lancet found that about 80 percent of the world's deaths from high blood pressure occur in poor and middle-income countries.

Seattle Times news services