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Updated: Aug 8, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Neonatal characteristics of maltreated infants and children
Insights
Neonatal characteristics like low birth weight and NICU admission were more common in abused or failure-to-thrive infants. These findings highlight significant differences in early development for vulnerable newborns.
Area of Science:
- Neonatalogy
- Pediatrics
- Child Welfare
Background:
- Child abuse and neglect are significant public health concerns.
- Failure to thrive (FTT) in infants requires careful neonatal assessment.
- Understanding neonatal risk factors is crucial for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare neonatal characteristics of abused/neglected or FTT infants with nonabused, thriving controls.
- To identify specific early indicators associated with abuse, neglect, or FTT.
Main Methods:
- A case-control study comparing 40 abused/neglected or FTT infants with 40 matched controls.
- Matching criteria included hospital of birth, gender, mother's welfare, race, and age of manifestation.
- Analysis focused on overrepresented neonatal characteristics in the study group.
Main Results:
- Abused/neglected or FTT infants showed overrepresentation of later birth order, low birth weight, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission, and delayed hospital discharge.
- A higher incidence of small for gestational age (SGA) infants was observed in the study group (20% vs. 3%).
- Significantly lower birth weights relative to expected weights were noted for full-term infants in the study group.
Conclusions:
- Neonatal characteristics such as low birth weight and NICU admission are significantly associated with subsequent abuse, neglect, or FTT.
- Infants exhibiting SGA and lower birth weights require close monitoring for potential developmental issues.
- Early identification of these neonatal risk factors can aid in timely interventions for at-risk infants.
Abstract:
We compared selected neonatal characteristics of 40 children who were abused and neglected (34) or who failed to thrive (six) and 40 nonabused, thriving children individually matched by hospital of birth, gender, mother's welfare status, race, and age at which abuse or failure to thrive was manifested. The populations were preponderantly lower-class, black, and male. The following characteristics were overrepresented in the study population: birth order second or later, low birth weight, admitted to neonatal intensive care unit, and discharged from hospital after mother. The higher incidence of full-term infants who were small for gestational age for the study population (20%) than for the control population (3%) was of borderline significance. The lower distribution of birth weights in relation to expected birth weights for the full-term study subjects, however, was highly significant.
