Sunday, May 02, 2010

Economic Conditions Affect Incidence of SBS

Articles in US News and World Report, USA Today and TIME cover a new study showing a significant correlation between abuse head injuries, such as Shaken Baby Syndrome, and the economy...

From the TIME article...

Presenting May 1 at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Vancouver, a team of researchers led by child abuse expert Dr. Rachel Berger at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh reported a significant increase in cases of shaken baby syndrome, in which youngsters are shaken violently by an adult, since the start of the current recession. Researchers analyzed data on 512 cases of head trauma in the children's centers of four hospitals in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Columbus and Seattle, and found that the number of cases had increased to 9.3 cases per month since Dec. 1, 2007, compared with 6 cases per month prior to that date — a rate that had held steady since 2004.