Patterns of Injury in the Battered Child Syndrome

Variation in the Diagnosis of Child Abuse in Severely Injured Infants

“…Several case series of child abuse show that 18% to 80% of abused children show some signs of prior abuse. 3,[17][18][19] These abused children most likely saw a physician at some point before receiving the diagnosis of abuse but were not diagnosed appropriately. Jenny et al 5 reported that 31% of abused patients admitted with acute head injuries had been recently evaluated by physicians for complaints consistent with acute head injury and were incorrectly diagnosed.…”

Association of Injury Visits in Children and Child Maltreatment Reports

“…Evidence of prior injury on physical examination or radiographs at the time of diagnosis of child maltreatment has been documented in the literature (15)(16)(17). Although in recent years there has been an increase in the awareness and more accurate diagnosis of child abuse by the medical community, physicians still often fail to identify and diagnose potentially life-threatening abuse (18 -21).…”

Eliminating disparity in evaluation for abuse in infants with head injury: use of a screening guideline

“…The skeletal survey is the imaging modality of choice in screening for skeletal injury and has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for children with suspicious injuries who are too young to provide an accurate history [5][6][7]. Despite these guidelines, the skeletal survey is inconsistently used, with as many as 75% of NAT cases in the emergency department being missed [8].…”