Study Finds History of Reported Maltreatment Linked to Increased Rates of Infant Death Due to Medical Causes

A study has found that infants with a history of reported maltreatment had significantly greater rates of death due to medical causes than those without reports. The study, “Infant Deaths from Medical Causes Following a Maltreatment Report,” which will be published in the September 2021 issue of Pediatrics (published online Aug. 23), examined whether post-neonatal infants reported for maltreatment face a heightened risk of death attributable to medical causes. Birth, child protection, and death records from California were linked to create the dataset used for analysis. After adjusting for baseline risk factors and compared to infants never reported for maltreatment, the medical-related mortality risk was almost twice as great among infants reported once for maltreatment and three times greater if there was more than one maltreatment report. Among infants reported for maltreatment, periods of foster care placement reduced the risk of death by roughly half. Targeted support services for parents and improved communication between the child protection system and the pediatric health care community is needed, especially when infants who may be medically fragile remain at home following an allegation of abuse or neglect, the authors conclude.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.