Citation

Leaman AM, Holt A, Ramakrishnan RG. Emerg. Med. J. 2010; 27(1): 26-28.

Affiliation

The Emergency Department, Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, Shropshire TF1 6TF, UK; caleaman@doctors.org.uk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, BMJ Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1136/emj.2008.069468

PMID

20029002

Abstract

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.

Language: en