Biomaterial Database

Child abuse reports in families with sudden infant death syndrome. 1998

R L O'Halloran, and F Ferratta, and M Harris, and P Ilbeigi, and C D Rom

Office of the Ventura County Medical Examiner, Ventura, California 93003, USA.

This study investigates the relation between sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) cases and reports to public child protection service (CPS) agencies of suspected child abuse or neglect prior to the sudden deaths. SIDS data were collected from the Ventura County Medical Examiner's death investigation records of 1981 through 1995. Names of deceased infants, their parents, and any other caretakers who might have been with the infant near the time of death were submitted to the county CPS, where they were referenced for reports of abuse or neglect. A control population of non-SIDS infants and their caretakers were checked in a similar manner. The 150 infants from the control group were compared with 157 SIDS infants; no significant statistical difference was found between groups in the incidence or type of CPS referrals. These findings suggest that screening CPS records for previous referrals is an ineffective method by which to detect infanticides misdiagnosed as SIDS and may cast unwarranted suspicion on otherwise typical SIDS cases.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D007231	Infant, Newborn	An infant during the first 28 days after birth.	Neonate,Newborns,Infants, Newborn,Neonates,Newborn,Newborn Infant,Newborn Infants
D007237	Infanticide	The killing of infants at birth or soon after.	Neonaticide,Infanticides,Neonaticides
D010287	Parent-Child Relations	The interactions between parent and child.	Parent-Offspring Interaction,Parent Child Relationship,Parent-Child Relationship,Interaction, Parent-Offspring,Parent Child Relations,Parent Child Relationships,Parent Offspring Interaction,Parent-Child Relation,Parent-Child Relationships,Parent-Offspring Interactions,Relation, Parent-Child,Relationship, Parent Child,Relationship, Parent-Child
D002140	California	State bounded on the east by Nevada and Arizona, on the south by Mexico and the Pacific Ocean on the south and west, and on the north by Oregon.
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
D002651	Child Advocacy	Promotion and protection of the rights of children; frequently through a legal process.	Advocacies, Child,Advocacy, Child,Child Advocacies
D005192	Family Health	The health status of the family as a unit including the impact of the health of one member of the family on the family as a unit and on individual family members; also, the impact of family organization or disorganization on the health status of its members.	Health, Family
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D012189	Retrospective Studies	Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.	Retrospective Study,Studies, Retrospective,Study, Retrospective