Study finds incidence of hospitalization for child abuse higher in young children

Children who are 12 months old or younger are more likely to be hospitalized due to child abuse than any other pediatric age group, according to recent research from the Pediatrics journal.

Researchers found that 58.2 of every 100,000 children 12 months or younger were admitted to a hospital because of child abuse. The incidence of hospitalization from child abuse is even higher in children who are covered by Medicaid, at 133.1 per 100,000.

“These numbers are higher than the rate of sudden infant death syndrome (about 50 per 100,000 births), which is alarming,” John M. Leventhal, MD, professor of pediatrics and medical director of the Child Abuse and Child Abuse Prevention Programs at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital, stated in a press release.

The overall incidence of hospitalization for children under 18 years of age due to child abuse is 6.2 per 100,000, according to the abstract. After analyzing data from the 2006 Kids’ Inpatient Database, researchers discovered a total of 4,569 children were hospitalized in a single year for injuries caused by physical abuse; of those patients, 300 died in the hospital from their injuries.

Reference:

Leventhal JM, Martin KD, Gaither JR. Using US data to estimate the incidence of serious physical abuse in children. Pediatrics. Published online Feb. 6, 2012. doi:10.1542/peds.2011-1277.

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