Unfortunately, despite extensive research, there are no accurate statistics. Of those, 20% are found to have confirmatory evidence of maltreatment. On average, over 3 million children per year are the subject of maltreatment reports. Each year, millions of families of children are investigated by Child Protective Services for abuse and neglect. Most survivors have both cognitive and neurologic impairment.Ībusive head trauma is a subset of a much larger problem.

Approximately 65% have significant neurological disabilities, and between 5 and 35% of infants die of injuries sustained. In the first year of life, the incidence of abusive head trauma is estimated to be approximately 35 cases per 100,000 infants. The morbidity and mortality from abusive head trauma are significant. This results from a lack of a centralized reporting system, signs of maltreatment not being present, unclear presentation, and acute head trauma not being a single isolated event but one that is part of chronic neglect and abuse that ends in severe morbidity and mortality. Shaken baby syndrome is difficult to diagnose. Preventive factors include parental education regarding child development and parenting, social support, and parental resilience. There are also protective factors that decrease the risk of child maltreatment, including family support and parental concern. All of these increase the chance of child maltreatment. Other factors include living in an unrelated adult’s home and being a child previously reported to child protective services (CPS). Risks at a community level are isolation, lack of recreational facilities, and societal factors such as poverty. Risks at a familial level are domestic violence at home and more than two siblings at home. These include risks at an individual level, such as disability of the child, unmarried mother, maternal smoking, and parent’s depression. Multiple factors increase a child’s risk of abuse. Infants tend to have increased morbidity and mortality with physical abuse. Shaking is often associated with the perpetrator’s level of frustration and tension.Ĭhild abuse affects all ethnicities, socioeconomic groups, and races, with boys and adolescents more commonly affected. They are usually evasive, fear repercussions, and invent “accidents” such as:Īcute head trauma perpetrators are most frequently the father or stepfather, mother’s boyfriend, female babysitter, and the mother. For those children that survive, the long-term financial and medical burden is extensive.Ĭaregivers rarely admit to the deliberate abuse of infants and children. Preventive mental health care is the best option to reduce child abuse. The solution to avoiding abusive head trauma is caregiver education to avoid accidental pediatric abusive head trauma and shaken baby syndrome and training health providers to recognize the signs and symptoms. Health professionals may not recognize the signs and symptoms due to the frequent lack of external signs of head trauma or abuse. Often the individuals responsible are evasive. Early diagnosis is essential but may prove challenging. The outcome ranges from complete recovery to significant brain damage and death.īrain and head injuries are the most common cause of traumatic death in children less than 2 years. Ībusive head trauma typically involves injury to the intracranial contents or skull of an infant or child younger than 5 years old as a result of violent shaking or blunt impact. Another term for this condition is shaken baby syndrome (SBS). Shaking, blunt impact or the combination can result in neurological injury. AHT is the most dangerous and deadly form of child abuse.

Pediatric abusive head trauma (AHT) most often involves brain injury of infants and young children.

Signs of trauma in babies