The Epidemiological and Clinical Profile of Sexually Abused Children: A Hospital-Based Study

Abstract

Introduction: Child sexual abuse is an extensive health and societal problem as even the lowest prevalence of child sexual abuse includes a huge number of victims who still need to be considered. Africa has the highest prevalence of child sexual abuse yet still with a paucity of literature on the subject matter. Objective: Describe the epidemiological and clinical profile of children victim of sexual abuse reported at the Yaounde Gynaeco-obstetric and Pediatric Hospital (YGOPH). Methods: A hospital based cross sectional descriptive study was conducted from January 1st, 2017 – December 31st, 2019 at the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital. Consultation files were examined and identified cases of child sexual abuse (CSA) recruited. Epidemiological and clinical data of included participants were treated using a pre-established questionnaire. Collected data were entered and analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software version 26.0 with p-values calculated following a one variable binomial sampling. Results: In total, data was assessed from 51,331 pediatric consultation files of which 127 cases of child sexual abuse met our inclusion criteria. The prevalence of child sexual abuse was 0.25%. Most victims of child sexual abuse were of the female gender (92%) from single parenting homes (36.8%) (p< 0.05) within two age groups < 5years (32.9%) and 10-15 years (32.9%). Perpetrators were in majority males (84%) of age ≥18 years (72.4%) and were persons known to the victims (73.7%) who proceeded by taking advantage of the victims’ trust. Vaginal penetration (57.9%) with vaginal lesions (59.2%) were the most encountered cases which were placed on highly active anti-retroviral prophylaxis however with poor clinical follow-up (35.5%) as the patients did not turn-up for their visits. Conclusion: Child sexual abuse though not addressed as a matter of urgency, yet it is a problem with a gradual upward trend in our community most especially as perpetrators are persons we are familiar with. Thus, a call for greater vigilance with regards to the guidance we leave our children with.

Clinical and Mhmedicolegal Management of Sexually Assaulted Children in Yaoundel

“…Koki et al found 30 years ago that 57.05% of children aged between 7 and 15 in their series were victims of sexual assault (3). The results are also similar to those of Chiabi et al who found among the victims of sexual assault in 2019 were mainly children under 5 years of age (32%) and children aged between 10 and 15 years (32.9%) (5). Young girls remain the most vulnerable population to sexual abuse.…”

“…Many survivors (98.86%) were female, which is the same as described by several authors (2)(3)(4)(5). In this study, the age groups most affected by sexual assault were 3 to 5 years (36.36%) and 6 to 10 years (32.95%).…”