2012, Number 2
Child abuse, its manifestations and perspective from a third level University hospital
Aguirre-Jáuregui Ó, Damián-Negrete RM, Márquez- Hernández MG, Rodríguez-Franco E, Velázquez-Martínez A, Mora-Carnalla L, Flores-Tinajero MÁ
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Language: Spanish
References: 7
Page: 51-57
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ABSTRACT
Introduction: The battered-child syndrome is an entity becoming, unfortunately, more frequent. Mexico ranks among the group of the most violent nations, with a rate eightfold higher than Europe and up to 16 times than Japan and Korea. With reference to another Latin American countries, Mexico ranked 16th on 2004. The interest and relevance of such problem area resides on the serious psychological, family, and social implications involved, as well as its estimated quantification of the cases.Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study, in which were included all the patients since birth to 16 years old admitted to the Fray Antonio Alcalde Civil Hospital from January 2010 to July 2012 diagnosed with abuse. The characteristics of the minor, the attacker, were identified and the type of abuse classified in physical, sexual abuse, neglect, an addicted mother to an illegal substance, suicidal attempts, behavior disorder, bullying, suspect of abuse, wound by firearm or bladed weapon.
Results: 326 patients were included during the period of the study. The most common age being 6-12 years, the most frequent attacker being both parents 37.7% (n. 123), followed by the mother, self-injury, a non-blood relative and the father with 74 (22.7%), 42 (12.8%), 34 (12.4%) and 28 (8.5%) respectively. The most frequent mistreatment was neglect (133, 40.7%), followed by physical and sexual abuse (54, 16.5% and 33, 10.1% respectively), the mortality was 4.5%.
Conclusion: The abuse is an entity becoming more frequent in our country, with multiple repercussions on health and society. It is essential to establish prevention measures and adequate detection of cases of child abuse.
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