PEDIATRICS Vol. 79 No. 4 April 1987, pp. 515-519
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Is Intrauterine Growth Retardation a Risk Factor for Child Abuse?

John M. Leventhal MD1, Anne Berg PhD1, and Susan A. Egerter PhD1

1 The Department of Pediatrics, the Child Study Center, and the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut

A case-control study was conducted to determine whether infants with intrauterine growth retardation are at an increased risk of child abuse. Case children were those who had been born at Yale-New Haven Hospital and were reported to the hospital's child abuse committee because they had been physically abused. For each case, one control child was chosen from the hospital's log of births and matched to the case child by age, gender, race of the mother, method of payment for the hospitalization, and the provider of the child's health care at the time of birth. Infants were defined as having intrauterine growth retardation if they had either a ponderal index or a birth weight that was less than the tenth percentile for gestational age using the Kansas City or Denver growth standards. We identified 117 case-Control l pairs that met those criteria. The matched odds ratios for each of the four definitions of intrauterine growth retardation were less than one, indicating that infants with intrauterine growth retardation are at a decreased risk of abuse. The matched odds ratio for a low ponderal index according to the Kansas City standard was 0.4 (95% confidence interval 0.19, 0.83). This result was not affected by such possible confounding factors as the mother's age. We conclude that infants with intrauterine growth retardation are not at an increased risk and may be at a decreased risk of physical abuse.

Key Words: child abuse • intrauterine growth retardation • risk factor

Submitted on October 7, 1985
Accepted on June 11, 1986




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N. Spencer, A. Wallace, R. Sundrum, C. Bacchus, and S. Logan
Child abuse registration, fetal growth, and preterm birth: a population based study.
J. Epidemiol. Community Health, April 1, 2006; 60(4): 337 - 340.
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