Study Says Children Hospitalized at Alarming Rate Due to Abuse

by Sheela Philomena on  February 06, 2012 at 12:37 PM Child Health News
  •   Print
  •   Share
  •   Comments
  •  Text 
In the United States, over 4,500 children were hospitalized due to child abuse, reveals research published in the March 2012 issue of Pediatrics.

Several measures have been used to track the national occurrence of child abuse, including data from Child Protective Services. But until now none quantified the severity of the abuse or whether the child was hospitalized as a result.

Led by John M. Leventhal, M.D., professor of pediatrics and medical director of the Child Abuse and Child Abuse Prevention Programs at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, the researchers used the 2006 Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) to estimate the incidence of hospitalizations due to serious physical abuse among children younger than 18 years. KID was prepared by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, part of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

They found 4,569 children were hospitalized in the U.S. in 2006 due to serious abuse; 300 of these children died. Children in their first year of life were at highest risk, of being hospitalized, making up 58.2 per 100,000 children in this age group.

Serious abuse was defined as any child who was admitted to the hospital with an injury that was coded as abuse. Such children included a 3-month-old with multiple bruises due to abuse and a 3-month-old with life-threatening abusive head trauma. The definition did not include children admitted with suspicious injuries who were eventually diagnosed as having non-abusive injuries.

"These numbers are higher than the rate of sudden infant death syndrome (about 50, per 100,000 births), which is alarming," said Leventhal, who also notes that children covered by Medicaid had rates of serious abuse about six times higher than those not on Medicaid. "This speaks to the importance of poverty as a risk factor for serious abuse."

The estimated national cost for the hospitalizations due to serious abusive injuries was $73.8 million. "These data should be useful in examining trends over time and in studying the effects of large-scale prevention programs," said Leventhal.

Source-Eurekalert

 Email Email   RSS Feeds RSS Feeds   Print this page Print   Save this page Save   Link Link   Syndicate Syndicate   Comments Comments   Bookmark and Share
 
Comment & Contribute
Comments should be on the topic and should not be abusive. Comments are normally moderated and are reviewed after they are posted.
* Your comment can be maximum of 2500 characters

Notify me when reply is posted
I agree to the terms and conditions
  
If you have a question about health related issues, you can now post it in our Ask An Expert section on our community website Medwonders.com and get answers from our panel of experts.
X

Medwonders Health Network

  • Health News Index
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
News Archive
Date :
Category :
Keyword :
  • News Quick Links
News Central Health Watch
Latest Health News Health In Focus
News Category (500+) Breaking Health News
Popular News Celebrating Life
Health News and Press Release Medindia - Exclusive
News Photo Gallery India Special
News Video Gallery Lifestyle and Wellness
News From Other Resources
News Categories:  
Senior Health Center

Child Health Related News

» Include Bone Age Measurement During Routine Care For Kids With Crohn's Disease » Obesity Raises Cranial Disorder In Kids That May Cause Blindness
» Study Says Babies Learn from 'Just Right' Experiences » Study Says Softening Agent Used in PVC Floor Materials Increases Risk of Asthma and Allergies in Infants
» Childhood Wheezing Not Linked to Viral Infections in Infancy » Letting Infants Cry Could Prove Detrimental to Health
» Investigate Crib Deaths, Orders Bengal Government » C-section Doubles Childhood Obesity Risk
Read More >>