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Outcomes for children hospitalized with abusive versus noninflicted abdominal trauma

Wendy Gwirtzman Lane1, Irwin Lotwin, Howard Dubowitz

  • 1Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. wlane@epi.umaryland.edu

Pediatrics
|May 11, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Children hospitalized for abusive abdominal trauma (AAT) face longer stays and higher costs. AAT also leads to increased mortality in children aged 1-9 compared to non-abusive injuries.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric trauma research
  • Child abuse and neglect studies
  • Public health and epidemiology

Background:

  • Abusive abdominal trauma (AAT) is a significant cause of mortality in children.
  • Previous research on AAT outcomes was limited to trauma center data.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze mortality, hospitalization duration, and costs for children with AAT using a national dataset.
  • To compare outcomes of AAT with non-abusive abdominal trauma in children.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the 2003 and 2006 Kids' Inpatient Database for children aged 0-9 years.
  • Identified AAT cases using ICD-9-CM and external cause of injury codes.
  • Employed multivariable regression to compare outcomes between AAT and non-inflicted injuries.

Main Results:

  • Children with AAT were younger and more frequently insured by Medicaid.
  • AAT patients had longer hospitalizations (7.9 vs 6.4 days) and higher charges ($24,343 vs $19,341).
  • Mortality was higher for AAT in children aged 1-9 (9.2% vs 2.7%), with no significant difference in infants.

Conclusions:

  • Children hospitalized for AAT experience worse short-term outcomes than those with non-abusive trauma.
  • Further research is needed to understand these outcome disparities.
  • Prevention efforts and support for at-risk families are crucial for addressing AAT.
Abstract

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