Home accident or physical abuse: Evaluation of younger children presenting with trauma, burn and poisoning in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Most cases of physical abuse and neglect refer to pediatric emergency clinics, and these patients are diagnosed as only home accidents. Cases that cannot be diagnosed and managed correctly are again exposed to severe trauma and consequently, they may die. The aim of this study is to evaluate the physical abuse and neglect in children younger than three years of age, admitted to the pediatric emergency department with the complaints of trauma, burn, drug poisoning and/or caustic ingestion. This prospective study included 132 patients who were admitted to the pediatric emergency department. Children were classified into three groups as "no abuse", "suspected abuse" and "abused" after being evaluated with a standard form. Additionally, suspected abuse and abused cases were evaluated once again by "The Team of Child Abuse and Neglect Evaluation, Research and Treatment" in Hacettepe University, Ihsan Dogramaci Children's Hospital. The frequency of the suspected abuse or abused cases in all burn, trauma and poisoning cases was found to be 7.5%. It was noticed that 65 of the patients (49.2%) were physically neglected considering the mechanism of occurrence of events. Unplanned pregnancy, absence of prenatal follow-up, high number of siblings, previous physical abuse in the family, absence of witness during the event, and hospitalization were statistically significant differences between no abuse and suspected abuse or abused cases (p<0.05). Moreover, age group and income were significant risk factors in the logistic regression model for the patients who were thought to be suspected abuse/abused in univariate analyses (age group: Odds ratio (OR) 0.279, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.085-0.723, p=0.0049; income: OR 2.323, 95% CI 1.052-6.198, p=0.0345). In conclusion, most cases of physical abuse and neglect are referred to the pediatric emergency clinics, and these patients are misdiagnosed as home accidents. The physicians working in the emergency department should be informed and trained in recognizing the cases of abuse and neglect, making the differential diagnosis, identifying the high-risk families and appropriate physical and psychological treatment for the abused and neglected children.