While natural disasters and economic downturns have traditionally reduced child abuse, a new study shows that cases may have declined in the first few months of the pandemic, compared to the same time frame in previous years.
In the study, led by UCSF Benioff and Mercy Kansas City Children’s Hospitals, researchers found the number of patients within the age of 5 and younger in 52 children’s hospitals nationwide for the first eight months of 2020. They found a sharp decline in the number of ER visits and hospital admissions, including those in need of treatment for physical abuse. This began in mid-March – around the time some states issued shelter orders – according to the study, which will be published March 1, 2021, in Pediatrics.
When the researchers looked at the proportion of patients who caused abuse admitted to the ICU and other signs of serious injury, in the period from March 16 to August 31, they found little differences between the same period for previous years.
“If the proportion of children diagnosed with more serious injuries had increased at the time of the pandemic, this would have shown that there was a reduction in physical abuse led by severely ill children. less serious injuries that did not show up for medical care or were missed by clinicians, ”said first author Sunitha Kaiser, MD, pediatric hospital at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals and associate professor there the UCSF departments of theology, and epidemiology and biostatistics.
“Instead, we found that the severity of the injury was similar to pre-pandemic levels, indicating that physical abuse may have declined in the same way over the full spectrum of the injury. severe, “she said.
The researchers found that a lower percentage of physically abused babies required ICU care during the pandemic period compared to the same time frame in previous years: 15.4 percent compared to 21.3 per cent. The study found little difference between these timetables in the proportion of abused children who had died in hospital (approximately 2 percent), and the proportion of abused children. abuse admitted for abusive head trauma.
CARES, Eviction protection can prevent child abuse
While further studies may reveal different patterns, including the possibility that evidence of abuse may not be visible for months to come, Kaiser suggests that interventions such as financial wages from the Aid Act Coronavirus, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) and clearance protections on adult weight reduction, preventing spikes in child violence.
“Our message home is that policies that help reduce stress on families should be prioritized to prevent unnecessary harm to children. Clinicians, teachers and carers should continue to be very vigilant in suspecting and reporting possible abuse, as we know historically there is under-detection and under-reporting. “
Other explanations for the study’s findings include a failure by clinicians to identify abuse, a situation that Kaiser says is less likely, given that patient numbers had fallen at the time of the outbreak. diffuse allows physicians more time to attend to patients present with injuries of questionable causes.
A 2016 paper cited in the study found that the rate of head abuse in children under 5 had risen from 9.8 per 100,000 years by 2007, to 15.6 per 100,000 years of children during the 2007 recession to 2009.
Source:
University of California – San Francisco