Scott Turner Doctors often miss abusive head injuries to young children, study says The diagnosis of head trauma caused by abuse was not recognized in 54 of 173 young children seen by doctors. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also finds that the injuries were more likely to be unrecognized in very young white children from two-parent families. Almost one-third of the time, doctors miss cases of head injuries caused by abuse to infants and small children, says a study in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association. Diagnosing head trauma from impacts or shaking can be difficult in the absence of a history of child abuse.
Head trauma is also easy to miss if no obvious symptoms are present.
But physicians must consider that such injuries may be inflicted on infants and young children who present non-specific signs of abuse, say the study authors. In other cases, parents didn't have a clue. Abuse may have come at the hands of a babysitter, grandparent or boyfriend. We need to do a better job. Let's be more aware of this diagnosis.