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Abstract
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Despite heightened risks for child abuse and neglect related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the social and economic strains of efforts to limit its spread, new findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show fewer emergency department (ED) visits for child abuse and neglect during the first 6 months of the pandemic compared with the same period in 2019.
However, although the number of visits related to child abuse and neglect had decreased, the proportion of those visits per 100 000 ED encounters increased from 2019 to 2020. This suggests, the authors wrote in the December 11 issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a change in "health care-seeking patterns" during the pandemic, with a sharper decline in ED visits for other causes compared with the drop in visits for child abuse and neglect.
A concerning finding was that even though the total number of child abuse and neglect-related ED visits had fallen in 2020, a greater proportion of these visits led to hospitalization. This suggests, the report said, "that victims might not have received care and that severity of injuries remained stable or worsened."
Pandemics, like other events marked by economic uncertainty, civil unrest, or disaster, pose known risks for child abuse and neglect. The researchers noted that despite preliminary reports indicating problems in some facilities, there has been a 20% to 70% decline in official reports to child protective agencies--a drop attributed to children having less in-person contact with mandated reporters, such as teachers, social workers, and physicians.
The CDC researchers used data collected from more than 3300 EDs by the National Syndromic Surveillance Program from January 6, 2019, through September 6, 2020 (before and during the COVID-19 pandemic), which they analyzed for trends in visits for suspected or confirmed abuse or neglect of a child or adolescent by a parent or other caregiver...
Language: en |