Risk Factors for Child Maltreatment Fatalities in a National Pediatric Inpatient Database

Child maltreatment (CM) is recognized as a major public health concern, and an important number of children suffer injuries related to abuse and neglect that result in death. We sought to identify risk factors for CM fatalities among hospitalized children that can provide clinicians with information to recognize at-risk children and reduce further death.

In this study, we included cases from the 2012 Kids' Inpatient Database with diagnosis codes related to CM who were <5 years of age and were not transferred to another facility. Potential demographic and clinical risk factors were identified and compared to child fatality in the hospital by using bivariate and multivariate analyses. To assess how cases coded specifically for maltreatment differed from similar cases that only suggested maltreatment, a reduced-model multivariable logistic regression for fatality was created.

We found 10 825 children <5 years who had inpatient diagnoses coded in their medical record for CM. Most demographic variables (age, race, and sex) were not significantly associated with fatality, whereas clinical variables (transferring in, drowning, ingestions, and burns) were significantly associated with fatality. There were regional differences on the basis of hospital location as well as significantly more chronic conditions, procedure charges, and longer lengths of stay among children who died. Controlling for significant risk factors, those with diagnoses specific for physical abuse had ∼3 times the odds of dying (odds ratio = 2.797; 95% confidence interval: 1.941-4.031).

In this study, although infancy and decreased income were associated with increased risk for fatality, more important factors were the types of injuries the child endured and whether the inpatient clinician had identified specific injuries indicating physical abuse.