Child Abuse Cases Increase, Need for Preventive Steps

Child abuse or the physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment or neglect of children are still prevalent in the country and has gone up in the recent past, a new study says. These findings come as a contradiction to previous reports from child protective agencies that found a remarkable decrease in physical abuse cases across the country.

The study published online Oct. 1 in Pediatrics examined incidences of serious physical abuses like head injuries, burns and fractures in children between 1997 and 2009 and found a five percent increase compared to the 55 percent decrease reported earlier by child protective services during the same period.

The study initiated by a team of researchers from the Yale University used data from the Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) containing discharge details from hospitals. The data also included other details about the child like age, gender, race and health insurance, length of hospital stay and mortality reports.

Findings pointed out hospitalization of children in abuse related injuries increasing by 4.9 percent.

According to the researchers, the decrease reported by the agencies may be caused by changes in the nature of reporting.

"These results highlight the challenges of helping parents do better by their children and the importance of effective prevention programs to reduce serious abusive injuries in young children," John M. Leventhal, professor of pediatrics and nursing at Yale, and director of the Child Abuse Programs at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital, said in a news release.

Nearly six million children are abused and five children die per day across the country, according to an estimate from National Child Abuse Statistics.

A study published in the journal Pediatrics found a large number of children becoming victims of economic recession and housing crisis in the country and hospitalized due to serious physical abuse in last one decade.

Child abuse can leave both mental and physical impact on children. Children who experience abuse at an early age are more likely to take drugs and abuse their own children in adulthood.

Earlier studies have found an association between adverse childhood experiences and health outcomes later in life. Smoking, cancer and metabolic disorders are some among them.