Children under four years of age hospitalized for child abuse, domestic accidents, failure to thrive, and ingestions were matched with controls admitted for comparably acute medical conditions. A structured parental interview yielded significant case-control differences. Discriminant analysis suggested interrelationships among the case groups and cluster analysis identified three cohesive groups in terms of severity of symptoms. This reformulation provides a matrix for organizing data and an alternative to the present manifestational classification system.

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