 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Patricia G. Schnitzer, PhD1, Mark Van Tuinen, PhD2, Paula Slusher, RN, MSN1, and Kristina Szafara, PhD1. (1) Family & Community Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, MA306 Medical Sciences Building DC032.00, Columbia, MO 65212, 573-882-1969, schnitzerp@health.missouri.edu, (2) Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, PO Box 570, 920 Wildwood, Jefferson City, MO 65102
Purpose: We established surveillance for non-fatal child maltreatment among children less than 10 years old in Missouri, using two data sources. The purpose of this presentation is to report the methods for developing the surveillance system and describe the epidemiology of non-fatal maltreatment in Missouri in the year 2000. Methods: We linked child abuse and neglect reports on children less than 10 years old from the Division of Family Services (DFS) [the child protective service agency in Missouri], with the Patient Abstract System (PAS) data from Missouri hospital and emergency department (ED) discharges. We classified children with an ICD maltreatment code or a substantiated or adjudicated report to DFS as maltreated and excluded non-Missouri residents. Results: 5,657 children met our case definition of maltreatment, providing a non-fatal maltreatment rate of 7.4/1,000 children. Rates were higher among children less than one-year old (8.4/1,000), females (7.7/1,000), African-Americans (11.8/1,000), and children residing in rural counties (9.2/1,000). The majority of children included had a single type of maltreatment documented: 43% with neglect, 22% with physical abuse, and 16% with sexual abuse. PAS data uniquely identified only 10% of the cases and the distribution of cases identified in the PAS was substantially different from DFS cases. The PAS data identified proportionately more African-American, urban, physically abused infants. Conclusion: Child protective services and medical data can be linked for non-fatal child maltreatment surveillance. However, the medical data add few additional unique cases and fail to identify child neglect, the most common form of maltreatment.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Children, Data/Surveillance
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.