Recent Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect: Demographics of abusive head trauma in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (2008)

The relevant perpetrator data is highlighted in bold.

http://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/PED/2008/1/5/351

Journal of Neurosurgery, May 2008 Volume 1, Number 5

Demographics of abusive head trauma in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Henry Kesler, M.D.1, Mark S. Dias, M.D.1, Michele Shaffer, Ph.D.2, Carroll Rottmund, R.N., B.S.N.1, Kelly Cappos, R.N., B.S.N.1, and Neal J. Thomas, M.D., M.Sc.2,3
1Departments of Neurosurgery, 2Public Health Sciences, and 3Pediatrics, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Abbreviations used in this paper: AHT = abusive head trauma; CI = confidence interval; ICD-10 = International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision; OCYF = Office of Children, Youth and Families.

Address correspondence to: Mark S. Dias, M.D., Department of Neurosurgery H110, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 500 University Drive, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033. email: mdias@psu.edu.
Current address for Dr. Kesler: Department of Neurosurgery, Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, New York.

DOI: 10.3171/PED/2008/1/5/351

Object
The aim of this study was to characterize the prevalence and demographic features of abusive head trauma (AHT) among infants and children. Both victims and perpetrators were more commonly male (58.4% of victims, and 70% of identified perpetrators). Compared with the entire population of Pennsylvania parents, the parents of the study cohort were more likely to be younger, less educated, and unmarried. Both mothers and fathers were more often African-American and fathers more often Hispanic. Finally, mothers more often smoked during pregnancy, sought prenatal care later in the pregnancy, and delivered low birth weight infants.

Conclusions
This population-based study of abusive head injuries throughout an entire state adds significantly to the growing knowledge about this condition. The results suggests that families of infants with abusive head injuries have significantly different demographic features compared with the general population, although which of these variables is independently significant cannot be ascertained from this study and require further investigation.