Abstract
At Children's Hospital of Michigan there seemed to be a disproportionate number of white infants with shaken baby syndrome (SBS) relative to the proportion of white infants in our physically abused population. All reports of suspected child abuse on children less than or equal to 18 months from Children's Hospital from 1980-1985 were reviewed. The total number of abused children 18 months or younger was 545 (447 black, 87 white, 1 unknown). There were 20 children in the SBS group. Eight of 87 (9%) of white abused infants had SBS compared with 12 of 447 (2.7%) of black abused infants. The occurrence of SBS in white abused infants was disproportionately higher than in blacks. This finding has not been previously reported. Before generalizations can be made, additional data must be obtained.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Caffey J. On the theory and practice of shaking infants. Its potential residual effects of permanent brain damage and mental retardation. Am J Dis Child. 1972 Aug;124(2):161–169. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1972.02110140011001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Caffey J. The whiplash shaken infant syndrome: manual shaking by the extremities with whiplash-induced intracranial and intraocular bleedings, linked with residual permanent brain damage and mental retardation. Pediatrics. 1974 Oct;54(4):396–403. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Dykes L. J. The whiplash shaken infant syndrome: what has been learned? Child Abuse Negl. 1986;10(2):211–221. doi: 10.1016/0145-2134(86)90082-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Guthkelch A. N. Infantile subdural haematoma and its relationship to whiplash injuries. Br Med J. 1971 May 22;2(5759):430–431. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5759.430. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ludwig S., Warman M. Shaken baby syndrome: a review of 20 cases. Ann Emerg Med. 1984 Feb;13(2):104–107. doi: 10.1016/s0196-0644(84)80571-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McClelland C. Q., Rekate H., Kaufman B., Persse L. Cerebral injury in child abuse: a changing profile. Childs Brain. 1980;7(5):225–235. doi: 10.1159/000119950. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Showers J., Bandman R. L. Scarring for life: abuse with electric cords. Child Abuse Negl. 1986;10(1):25–31. doi: 10.1016/0145-2134(86)90028-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]