Pediatric Abdominal Trauma from Abuse Portends Worse Outcomes Than Nonabusive Abdominal Trauma

To compare outcomes between children (age range, 0–9 years) hospitalized for abusive abdominal trauma (AAT) and those hospitalized for nonabusive abdominal trauma, investigators reviewed data from a national database representing nearly 3 million pediatric admissions in 36 states in 2003 and 2006.

Injury severity scores were similar between the 234 children with AAT and the 4200 children with nonabusive abdominal trauma. Children with AAT were significantly younger (mean age, 2.0 vs. 5.4 years) and more often insured by Medicaid (75% vs. 36%). Multivariate analysis adjusted for potential confounders (age, sex, race, payer, urban/rural residence, and income quartile) showed that, among patients who survived to discharge, those with AAT had si…