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Impact on the incidence of suspected physical abuse in children under 24 months of age during a global pandemic: A multi-centre Irish regional retrospective cross-sectional analysis.
McDonnell, Caoimhe; Courtney, Michael; Barrett, Michael; McDonnell, Thérèse; Persaud, Thara; Twomey, Eilish; Harty, Sinead; Byrne, Angela T.
  • McDonnell C; St James Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Courtney M; St James Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Barrett M; Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.
  • McDonnell T; Women's and Children's Health, School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Persaud T; Centre for Interdisciplinary Research Education and Innovation in Health Systems, UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Twomey E; Tallaght University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Harty S; Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Byrne AT; Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.
Br J Radiol ; 95(1137): 20220024, 2022 Sep 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1923636
ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES:

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in periods of nationwide restrictions in Ireland including school and workplace closures. The authors hypothesised that this disruption to society may have led to a change in patterns of suspected physical abuse (SPA) presentations to the paediatric emergency department (ED), whilst ED attendance fell dramatically during the period. We reviewed data to determine whether there was an increase in presentations of SPA during periods of social restrictions.

METHODS:

The National Integrated Medical Imaging Service was searched for all skeletal survey examinations performed between the dates of the 1 March 2016 and 28 Feb 2021 for studies performed in cases of SPA. Electronic records of attendance were extracted from the emergency department administrative system at the three paediatric emergency departments which serve the 400,000 children regionally. The data were reviewed to determine if SPA presentations increased during restriction periods.

RESULTS:

311 individual paediatric patients aged 24 months and under were referred for SPA skeletal survey during the study period. During the 2020/2021 period, 60 children were referred for SPA workup and there was no statistically significant difference between monthly referrals (mean 5, sd 2.92) in this period and matched periods over the preceding 4 years (mean 5.23, sd 2.69).

CONCLUSIONS:

The incidence of SPA did not increase during the period of national restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE Periods of social restrictions taken to protect the public health during a pandemic do not result in short term increases in suspected physical abuse in the regional paediatric population.
Subject(s)

Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Pandemics / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Child / Humans Language: English Journal: Br J Radiol Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Bjr.20220024

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Pandemics / COVID-19 Type of study: Experimental Studies / Observational study / Randomized controlled trials Limits: Child / Humans Language: English Journal: Br J Radiol Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Bjr.20220024