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Updated: Jun 17, 2026
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
Emergency department attendance by children at risk of abuse
A M Leaman1, A Holt, R G Pummi Ramakrishnan
1The Emergency Department, Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, Shropshire TF1 6TF, UK. caleaman@doctors.org.uk
Insights
Frequent emergency department (ED) attendance is not a reliable indicator for identifying children at risk of abuse. This study found no difference in ED visits between at-risk children and controls.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Child Protection
- Emergency Medicine
Background:
- Historically, frequent emergency department (ED) attendance has been considered a potential risk factor for child abuse.
- This study investigates the validity of this assumption in identifying at-risk children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if children later placed on a child protection register have higher ED attendance rates compared to a matched control group.
- To assess the utility of ED visit frequency as a screening tool for child abuse.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 220 children (0-12 years) from child protection registers in Shropshire (2006) were analyzed.
- ED attendances in the two years prior to registration were compared to an age-matched control group (n=150 per year) with index ED attendances.
- Data was collected from local emergency department computer records.
Main Results:
- Children identified as at-risk did not exhibit a higher frequency of ED attendance compared to the control group.
- No statistically significant difference in ED visit rates was observed between the two groups.
Conclusions:
- Frequent emergency department attendance alone is unlikely to be an effective method for detecting child abuse.
- While ED visits may serve other purposes, relying on them for child abuse identification is not supported by this research.
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.
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