TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2010//
TI  - Emergency department attendance by children at risk of abuse
JO  - Emergency medicine journal
A1  - Leaman, A. M.
A1  - Holt, Ashley
A1  - Ramakrishnan, R. G. Pummi
SP  - 26
EP  - 28
VL  - 27
IS  - 1
N2  - BACKGROUND: Frequency of emergency department (ED) attendance has long been thought to be a risk factor for child abuse. The aim of this study was to test this assumption by comparing the ED attendances of at-risk children (before being placed on a child protection register) with the attendances of an age-matched control group (before an index attendance) Method: A group of 220 children (aged 0-12 years inclusive) were identified from the two child protection registers in the Shropshire area in 2006. The ED attendances of these children in the 2 years before registration were identified using the computer records of the two local EDs. A control group of 150 children for each year of age (0-12 years inclusive) was then identified from ED attendances between October and December 2006. The attendances of these children in the 2 years before this index attendance were obtained. The data for these two groups of children were then compared. RESULTS: The at-risk children did not attend the EDs more frequently than did the children in the control group. CONCLUSION: The identification of children who attend EDs frequently may be useful for other reasons but is unlikely to be an effective way to detect child abuse.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1472-0205
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/emj.2008.069468
ID  - ref1
ER  -