Study Tallies Serious Child Abuse Injuries
Nearly 4,600 children had to stay in a U.S. hospital in 2006 because of child abuse, a new study says. About 300 of them died. The study was the first to estimate serious injuries from child abuse nationwide. It was based on numbers from the Kids’ Inpatient Database. It covers children under age 18. The study found that 6 out of every 100,000 children had a hospital stay for physical child abuse. The average stay was about a week. Injuries included head trauma, burns and broken bones. The rates were highest â 58 out of 100,000 â for infants age 1 or younger. That’s higher than the rate for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Hospital stays also were much higher in children on Medicaid. Other research has shown a spike in child abuse since the recession that began in late 2007. Researchers said economic stress often leads to more child abuse.