[Child neglect in the county of Copenhagen. Changing incidence?]

The aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence of physical violence, neglect, and sexual abuse of children as reported to the local authorities in the County of Copenhagen during the year 1998, and compare it with a similar study conducted in 1993.

A questionnaire was posted to the local authorities of the 18 districts in the county. They were asked how many new, verified, and suspected cases of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse had come to their attention in 1998.

A total number of 182 cases were identified, corresponding to a total incidence of 2.1 cases per 1000 children aged 0-17 years (2.1@1000), with 0.6@1000 for physical abuse, 0.8@1000 for emotional neglect, and 0.7@1000 for sexual abuse. More than one-third of the cases were considered verified. We found a slight fall in the incidence of abuse of children, as compared to our study from 1993 (2.1@1000 as compared to 2.7@1000 in 1993). The incidence of physical neglect, which the authors' assess to be the most reliable parameter, was found to be unchanged (0.8@1000).

The authors recommend a common, uniform, centralised registration of cases of child abuse in the counties. We suggest that such registration should contain information about the age of the child, initials, type of abuse, verified or suspected, and who reported the case.