Biomaterial Database

The economic burden of hospitalizations associated with child abuse and neglect. 2004

Sue Rovi, and Ping-Hsin Chen, and Mark S Johnson

Department of Family Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, 07103, USA. rovis@umdnj.edu

OBJECTIVE This study assessed the economic burden of child abuse-related hospitalizations. METHODS We compared inpatient stays coded with a diagnosis of child abuse or neglect with stays of other hospitalized children using the 1999 National Inpatient Sample of the Healthcare Costs and Utilization Project. RESULTS Children whose hospital stays were coded with a diagnosis of abuse or neglect were significantly more likely to have died during hospitalization (4.0% vs 0.5%), have longer stays (8.2 vs 4.0 days), twice the number of diagnoses (6.3 vs 2.8), and double the total charges (19,266 vs 9513 US dollars) than were other hospitalized children. Furthermore, the primary payer was typically Medicaid (66.5% vs 37.0%). CONCLUSIONS Earlier identification of children at risk for child abuse and neglect might reduce the individual, medical, and societal costs.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007182	Income	Revenues or receipts accruing from business enterprise, labor, or invested capital.	Income Distribution,Income Generation Programs,Savings,Distribution, Income,Distributions, Income,Income Distributions,Income Generation Program,Incomes,Program, Income Generation,Programs, Income Generation
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D007226	Infant Mortality	Postnatal deaths from BIRTH to 365 days after birth in a given population. Postneonatal mortality represents deaths between 28 days and 365 days after birth (as defined by National Center for Health Statistics). Neonatal mortality represents deaths from birth to 27 days after birth.	Neonatal Mortality,Mortality, Infant,Postneonatal Mortality,Infant Mortalities,Mortalities, Infant,Mortalities, Neonatal,Mortalities, Postneonatal,Mortality, Neonatal,Mortality, Postneonatal,Neonatal Mortalities,Postneonatal Mortalities
D007348	Insurance, Health	Insurance providing coverage of medical, surgical, or hospital care in general or for which there is no specific heading.	Group Health Insurance,Health Insurance,Health Insurance, Voluntary,Health Insurance, Group,Health Insurances,Insurance, Group Health,Insurance, Voluntary Health,Insurances, Health,Voluntary Health Insurance
D007902	Length of Stay	The period of confinement of a patient to a hospital or other health facility.	Hospital Stay,Hospital Stays,Stay Length,Stay Lengths,Stay, Hospital,Stays, Hospital
D008297	Male		Males
D011159	Population Surveillance	Ongoing scrutiny of a population (general population, study population, target population, etc.), generally using methods distinguished by their practicability, uniformity, and frequently their rapidity, rather than by complete accuracy.	Surveillance, Population
D011204	Poverty Areas	City, urban, rural, or suburban areas which are characterized by severe economic deprivation and by accompanying physical and social decay.	Ghettos,Slums,Area, Poverty,Areas, Poverty,Ghetto,Poverty Area,Slum
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002649	Child Abuse	Abuse of children in a family, institutional, or other setting. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 1994)	Abuse Experiences, Childhood,Child Neglect,Child Neglect Experiences,Child Neglect, Physical,Childhood Abuse Experiences,Childhood Neglect Experiences,Neglect Experience, Childhood,Neglect Experiences, Childhood,Physical Neglect, Childhood,Child Maltreatment,Child Mistreatment,Abuse Experience, Childhood,Abuse, Child,Child Neglect Experience,Childhood Abuse Experience,Childhood Neglect Experience,Childhood Physical Neglect,Childhood Physical Neglects,Experience, Child Neglect,Experience, Childhood Abuse,Experience, Childhood Neglect,Maltreatment, Child,Mistreatment, Child,Neglect Experience, Child,Neglect, Child,Neglect, Childhood Physical,Neglect, Physical Child,Physical Child Neglect,Physical Child Neglects