PEDIATRICS Vol. 75 No. 2 February 1985, pp. 340-342
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Serious Head Injury in Infants: Accident or Abuse?

M. Elaine Billmire MD1 and Patricia A. Myers MSW1

1 From the Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and Department of Social Services, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

The medical records and computed tomography (CT) scans of all children less than 1 year of age admitted to the hospital with head injury over a 2-year period were reviewed. Sixty-four percent of all head injuries, excluding uncomplicated skull fracture, and 95% of serious intracranial injuries were the result of child abuse. The occurrence of intracranial injury in infants, in the absence of a history of significant accidental trauma, such as a motor vehicle accident, constitutes grounds for an official child abuse investigation.

Key Words: child abuse • skull fracture • head injury • intracranial hemorrhage

Submitted on July 30, 1984
Accepted on August 2, 1984




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