[Maltreatment of children with disabilities: Characteristics and risk factors].
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of maltreated children with disabilities, the demographic characteristics, the frequency of the type of maltreatment, the perpetrator of the maltreatment, the family, social and environmental risk factors and to contribute information to knowledge of the etiopathogenesis of child maltreatment.


METHODS
We performed a retrospective cross-sectional study over a 10-year period (1991-2001). The health and socio-familial reports of 1,115 maltreated children entering foster care in Saragossa (Spain) were reviewed and those presenting physical, psychological and/or sensorial disability were included.


RESULTS
Sixty-two children with disabilities were admitted during the study period (a prevalence of 5.56 % below that expected). Mean age was 7.47 years (5.60 SDU) (range: 0-17 years). The most frequent age group was 0-5 years (43.5 %). The male-to-female ratio was 1.36:1. The most prevalent disability was psychological (35.5 %), followed by mixed (27.4 %), physical (25.8 %), and sensorial (11.2 %). The most frequent type of maltreatment was physical neglect (82.2 %). A total of 16.2 % of the children presented several types of maltreatment. In 83.8 % of the patients the perpetrator of the maltreatment was the mother. At least one family, social and/or environmental risk factor was present in 93.5 % of the children and more than one risk factor was present in 64.5 %.


CONCLUSIONS
We believe that in most of the cases of maltreatment of disabled children from our environment, the etiopathogenesis was unrelated to the presence of an isolated individual risk factor (disability). Instead, maltreatment was related to the existence of familial, social and environmental risk factors. The greater the number of risk factors associated with a disabled child, the greater will be the possibility of maltreatment.
Oliván Gonzalvo
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Servicios de Pediatría y Adolescencia, Instituto Aragonés de Servicios Sociales, Departamento de Sanidad, Consumo y Bienestar Social, Gobierno de Aragón, Spain. DROLIVAN@santandersupernet.com
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors