Childhood maltreatment has been recognized as a widespread problem across the globe. Data from North America have shown higher annual health care utilization and costs for women with vs. without a history of child abuse. Specifically, annual health care costs were 36% higher for women who had experienced both physical and sexual child abuse. Feng et al. found that the economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States was U$ 585 billion in just 1 year, and U$ 194 billion in the East Asia and Pacific region, accounting for 1.36 to 2.52% of the region's GDP. In addition to representing an economic burden, childhood abuse and neglect are important risk factors for a range of mental disorders, including addiction and suicide, as well as for sexually transmitted infections and risky sexual behavior...
Language: en
", language="en", issn="1516-4446", doi="10.1590/1516-4446-2019-4103", url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1516-4446-2019-4103" }