Abstract
Background and objectives:To examine abusive head trauma (AHT) trends using data obtained from hospital-based child protection centers (CPCs) and the distribution of age in months among young children in Saudi Arabia.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted that includes data obtained from 58 hospital-based CPCs in all 13 regions of Saudi Arabia registered in the National Family Safety Registry from 2010 to 2020. AHT cases (n=106) were identified for inclusion in the registry by a daily review of the emergency department logbooks.Results: Over the 11-year period, there was a sharp increase in the number of cases, specifically after 2014, from seven cases per year in 2010 to 16 cases in 2020. AHT affects predominantly children aged 0-12 months (72.6%), followed by 13-24 months (17.9%), 25-36 months (3.8%), 37-48 months (3.8%), and 49-60 months (1.9%). Victims were characterized by a predominance of crying infants (23.6%), past history of abuse (13.2%), a child’s chronic disease and disability (7.6%), and prematurity (2.8%).Conclusion: Different training and educational programs need to be performed to raise awareness of AHT. Enacting the pediatrician’s mandatory reporting law will improve the rate of reporting cases.
Highlights
Abusive head trauma (AHT) is the deadliest form of child maltreatment (CM) and is the leading cause of death among the victims [1]
In the United States (US), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) [2], abusive head trauma (AHT) can be defined as an injury to the skull or intracranial contents of children
There are some characteristics among children that appear to increase the probability of AHT including age
Summary
Abusive head trauma (AHT) is the deadliest form of child maltreatment (CM) and is the leading cause of death among the victims [1]. There are some characteristics among children that appear to increase the probability of AHT including age
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