title: Children's non-accidental injuries at an accident and emergency department: does the age of the child and the type of injury matter?
abstract: Physical child abuse is a significant social and medical problem within the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. This study considers the role of emergency medical services in the detection of non-accidental childhood injury by examining paediatric attendances at a central London Accident and Emergency department over a two year period. There were 183 recorded episodes of non-accidental injury out of 17,582 paediatric attendances to the A&E department over two years. At bivariate level, non-accidental injury was associated with the age of the patient, and the primary clinical diagnosis groups of wounds, poisoning and burns (p < .01). Attendances by children over the age of 10 years, along with attendances for the treatment of wounds or burns, were statistically significant multivariate predictors of non-accidental injury being recorded in A&E (p < .001). This study shows that about 1 in 100 paediatric attendances at A&E are recorded as non-accidental injury. Young children are less likely to be recorded as non-accidentally injured, compared to adolescents. Health professionals need to be vigilant to the possibility of non-accidental injury for all children using emergency health services.
authors.affiliation: Taylor & Associates, 160 Garratt Lane, London SW18 4DA, United Kingdom. leona@mail.com
authors.forename: Leona
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bull
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016529:Emergency Nursing / Q000193:education; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016015:Logistic Models; D008131:London / Q000453:epidemiology; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011159:Population Surveillance; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology