Surveying Non-Accidental Trauma Closely
Fractures occur for roughly
10-25% of all childhood injuries. The overall incidence of fractures in
children is approximately 20/1000/year, which is approximate twice the incidence
of fractures in adults. The incidence of fractures as we age and approximately
a third of children can be expected to undergo a fracture before the age of 16
years. Children sustain mainly an upper limb fracture and have comparatively
few lower limb fractures.
Accidents are common, especially
among young children aged 1 - 4 years of age. It gets necessary for you, as a
parent and guardian or the health workers to be aware of these possible
unpleasant and unintended events and should play a big role first in the
restriction and secondly in their management. We shall examine both accidental
and Non-accidental injuries.
Bone fracture in children:
Long bone fractures in children
can occur due to accidental or non-accidental injuries. The identification of
some of the non-accidental nature fractures in children remains a major
diagnostic challenge for clinicians. The clinical situation is sensitive due to
child protection issues and the impact of an incorrect judgment on the child
and the family unit.
Away from the clinical setting, the evidence
for the judgment on child abuse must also withstand investigation in the court
of law. There should be a waste of considerable resources in the investigation
of a misjudged non-accidental injury. It is important for you to be aware of
the variation in clinical traits of fractures from accidental and
non-accidental injuries.
Fractures and other childhood problems:
In comparison with the other
childhood problems, the 'non-accidental fracture' poses distinct diagnostic
concerns in that despite the significant risk and the consequences of this
diagnosis.
Furthermore, there is no clinical
test available that can confirm or exclude non-accidental injury in a child
with a fracture. It remains a subjective and qualitative clinical decision
which is based on the assessment of an experienced clinician
The decision is based on the evaluation of the
injury, clinical assessment of the child and evaluation of the fracture. The
predominance of the non-accidental fractures is hard to measure but these are
identified in one in three children investigated for non-accidental injury.
Conclusion:
The purpose of this study was to
examine the demographic and injury characteristics of children hospitalized
with non-accidental trauma as a causative factor using a large national
database. Of the nearly 2.5 million cases in the database, 1794 (0.1%) were
identified through diagnostic coding of abuse. Both sexes were equally
represented, and two-thirds had Medicaid as their primary payer. About one-half
of the children were younger than 1 year, but all ages were represented. The
most common orthopedic injuries were fractures of the femur or humerus, and
most of those fractures occurred in children younger than 2 years. The most
common non-orthopedic injuries were contusions and brain injuries, with or
without skull fracture, and 62 (3.5%) of the abused children died.
Resource Box:
Visit Parnami Hospital for
meeting the best pediatric orthopedist in Delhi-NCR.
Content Source : https://parnamiorthopaedichospital.home.blog/2019/06/19/surveying-non-accidental-trauma-closely/
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