Incidence of child maltreatment diagnosis in electronic health records of a large integrated healthcare system: 2001-2018

The purpose of this study was to identify the number of children (<18years old) with an International Classification of Disease (ICD) diagnosis code for child maltreatment each year from 2001-2018 and examine differences by age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Data were drawn from the electronic health records of children (birth to <18years old) who were members of a large integrated healthcare system in California. We calculated the incidence rate (1 per 1000 children) for each year from 2001-2018 separately by age groups, gender, and race/ethnicity. Adolescents (11-15years old) had the overall highest incidence of all ages groups. Females had nearly twice the rate of males for the past 5years. Lastly, for race/ethnicity Black children had the highest incidence and Asian children the lowest. The findings demonstrate that maltreatment diagnosis in medical settings may be underused. Understanding the trends of these ICD codes by demographic characteristics yields information that health care providers may use to both increase the identification and documentation of child maltreatment.