If we could identify who is at risk for child abuse before it occurs, we might be able to prevent physical abuse from occurring. Puls et al. (10.1542/peds.2018-2108) set out to describe the prevalence of risk factors for physical abuse in early infancy. They studied a national birth cohort of over 3.7 million newborns and a database that focused on readmission of that cohort. A variety of demographic and psychosocial data were tracked, and then subsequent hospitalizations linked via their database. Only 1247 infants were rehospitalized for abuse 6 months after birth, of which 20% were preterm or low birthweight and 4.1% drug exposed. The findings show that these two factors were associated with increased readmissions for abuse, whereas having medical complexity or a non-cardiac birth defect was not associated with subsequent abuse. The authors identify a host of factors that indicate those infants at greatest risk for abuse, but I’ll only provide a small dose of data from this study so that you will read the study for yourself. This study raises the question about if you find yourself with a newborn who classifies at high risk for subsequent abuse based on the findings in this study, could early intervention to prevent abuse from occurring?
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Predicting Physical Abuse Based on Risk Factors Identified in the Newborn
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Predicting Physical Abuse Based on Risk Factors Identified in the Newborn
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January 25, 2019
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Pediatrics Blog
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