Arab Board Pediatrics Clinical Exam key terms

A newborn whose birth weight lies below the 10th percentile for its gestational age and sex, reflecting intrauterine growth restriction or constitutional smallness and carrying risks of hypoglycemia, hypothermia, and polycythemia.

A newborn whose birth weight exceeds the 90th percentile for gestational age and sex, most often related to maternal diabetes or constitutional factors and associated with birth trauma and neonatal hypoglycemia.

A rapid 0-10 assessment of heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, reflex irritability, and color performed at one and five minutes after birth to guide resuscitation and document condition.

Neonatal respiratory failure caused by surfactant deficiency in premature lungs, producing tachypnea, grunting, retractions, and ground-glass chest radiographs responsive to exogenous surfactant and CPAP.

Chronic lung disease of prematurity defined by persistent oxygen requirement at 36 weeks postmenstrual age, resulting from ventilator and oxygen injury to an immature lung, often with inflammation and impaired alveolar growth.

Yellow discoloration from unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia in the first weeks of life; physiologic when mild and self-limited, but requiring investigation and phototherapy when early, severe, or prolonged to prevent kernicterus.

Irreversible bilirubin-induced injury to the basal ganglia and brainstem, producing lethargy, hypertonia, hearing loss, and choreoathetoid cerebral palsy; prevented by treating severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia promptly.

Bleeding into the germinal matrix and cerebral ventricles in premature infants, graded I to IV, associated with fluctuating cerebral blood flow and leading to hydrocephalus or neurodevelopmental impairment.

A six-point scale (I to VI) describing murmur intensity, from barely audible to audible without a stethoscope, combined with timing, location, radiation, and quality to characterize cardiac lesions.

A benign, soft, systolic murmur in a well-growing child without cyanosis, thrill, or abnormal pulses, typically grade I-II, varying with position, and requiring no investigation or restriction.

Structural heart defects producing right-to-left shunting and hypoxemia, such as tetralogy of Fallot or transposition, presenting with central cyanosis, clubbing, and hypercyanotic spells needing urgent assessment.

A congenital heart defect in which pulmonary or systemic blood flow depends on a patent ductus arteriosus, so closure causes collapse; prostaglandin infusion maintains ductal patency until surgery.

Deep, rapid, sighing respirations that compensate for severe metabolic acidosis, classically seen in diabetic ketoacidosis and other acidotic states, and a sign of impending exhaustion.

A metabolic emergency of insulin deficiency with hyperglycemia, ketonemia, and acidosis; in children it requires cautious fluid and insulin therapy because of the risk of cerebral edema.

Thyroid hormone deficiency present at birth, usually from thyroid dysgenesis, detected by newborn screening; untreated it causes irreversible intellectual disability, so early levothyroxine replacement is essential.

A population program testing heel-prick blood in the first days of life for treatable conditions such as congenital hypothyroidism, phenylketonuria, and hemoglobinopathies, enabling presymptomatic intervention.

Inadequate weight gain or growth in a child, evidenced by falling across growth centiles, caused by inadequate intake, malabsorption, increased needs, or psychosocial factors, and managed by systematic assessment.

A plotted reference of weight, length or height, and head circumference against age and sex, used to detect abnormal growth velocity, faltering, or disproportionate growth across childhood.

A quick field measure of nutritional status in children aged six months to five years; a low value indicates severe acute malnutrition and identifies children needing therapeutic feeding.

A glomerular disorder with heavy proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia, edema, and hyperlipidemia; most childhood cases are steroid-responsive minimal change disease, and management addresses edema, infection risk, and relapse.

Presence of red blood cells in urine, macroscopic or microscopic; distinguishing glomerular from lower urinary tract bleeding and excluding infection, stones, and malignancy guides investigation in children.

Retrograde flow of urine from bladder to ureter, graded I to V, predisposing to pyelonephritis and renal scarring; detected by voiding cystourethrography after febrile urinary tract infection.

A convulsion occurring with fever in a child aged six months to five years without intracranial infection or prior afebrile seizures; usually benign, but meningitis must be excluded when signs suggest it.

Continuous seizure activity or recurrent seizures without recovery lasting five minutes or more, requiring immediate airway support and staged anticonvulsant therapy to prevent neuronal injury.

Insertion of a needle into the lumbar subarachnoid space to obtain cerebrospinal fluid for cell counts, chemistry, and culture, essential for diagnosing meningitis and contraindicated with raised intracranial pressure.

Invasive infection by Neisseria meningitidis causing fever, rapidly spreading purpuric rash, shock, and coagulopathy; a notifiable emergency requiring immediate antibiotics and supportive resuscitation.

Life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection, recognized in children by fever or hypothermia, tachycardia, poor perfusion, and altered mental state, needing prompt antibiotics and fluids.

A severe, rapidly progressive systemic hypersensitivity reaction with airway swelling, bronchospasm, and hypotension; intramuscular epinephrine is the first-line treatment and observation is mandatory afterward.

Acute worsening of airway obstruction with wheeze, cough, and dyspnea, graded by severity using speech, work of breathing, and oxygen saturation, treated with inhaled bronchodilators, steroids, and oxygen.

An autosomal recessive disorder of chloride transport causing viscous secretions, chronic sinopulmonary infection, pancreatic insufficiency, and elevated sweat chloride; managed with airway clearance, enzymes, and nutrition.

An immune-mediated enteropathy triggered by gluten in genetically predisposed children, causing malabsorption, diarrhea, and growth failure; diagnosed by serology and duodenal biopsy and treated with a lifelong gluten-free diet.

Telescoping of proximal bowel into distal bowel, typically ileocolic in infants, causing colicky pain, vomiting, and red-currant jelly stool; diagnosed by ultrasound and reduced by air or contrast enema.

Green-stained vomiting in a neonate or infant, a surgical red flag for intestinal obstruction such as malrotation with volvulus, requiring immediate imaging and surgical consultation.

Microcytic hypochromic anemia from inadequate iron stores or intake, common in infancy and adolescence, causing pallor, fatigue, and developmental effects; treated with oral iron and dietary correction.

An inherited hemoglobin disorder with reduced synthesis of globin chains, producing microcytic anemia; beta-thalassemia major requires lifelong transfusions with iron chelation, and screening prevents affected births.

A metabolic emergency after rapid destruction of cancer cells, with hyperkalemia, hyperphosphatemia, hyperuricemia, and hypocalcemia that can cause renal failure and arrhythmia; prevented by hydration and allopurinol.

Fever with an absolute neutrophil count below 500 per microliter in a child receiving chemotherapy, a high-risk state requiring immediate cultures and empirical broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Accumulation of lead from paint, dust, or other sources causing anemia, abdominal pain, and neurodevelopmental impairment; blood lead testing and removal from exposure are central to management.

Permission for a procedure or treatment given by a person with capacity after understanding its nature, risks, benefits, and alternatives; in children it is obtained from parents or guardians with the child's assent where appropriate.

The professional duty to recognize and report suspected abuse or neglect, prioritizing the child's safety through multidisciplinary assessment, documentation, and statutory notification without requiring proof.