Article
How common is abuse in Greece? Studying cases with femoral
fractures
I Trogana, N Dessyprisb, M Moustakib, E Petridoub
a University of
Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY, USA, b University of Athens School of Medicine,
Department of Hygiene & Epidemiology, 75 M. Asias Str., Goudi, Athens
11527, Greece
Correspondence to: Prof. Petridou epetrid{at}med.uoa.gr
Accepted 3 May 2001
AIMS
To examine the extent of
undiagnosed child abuse in Greece by studying young children with
femoral fractures, which may be associated with abuse.
METHODSFifty seven consecutive
cases of children under 6 years of age with femoral fracture were
identified from the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System
database. Controls were 4162 children with other orthopaedic injuries
from the same database.
RESULTSWhereas in the literature
about one third of femoral injuries among young children are attributed
to child abuse, no child in the studied series had been diagnosed or
even investigated in this context. Nevertheless, the pattern of
occurrence of femoral injuries was compatible with that of child abuse,
in that patients were frequently very young boys of low socioeconomic
status, and the accident had frequently occurred under poorly
identified or implausible conditions at time periods when most family
members were crowded at home.
CONCLUSIONSEpidemiological risk
factors for child abuse characterise femoral fractures in young
children in Greece. It appears that child abuse is present in this
country as in most other cultures. There is a clear need for refocusing
medical personnel and hospital social services so that the problem is
revealed, quantified, and appropriately dealt with.
Keywords: child abuse; femoral fractures; injury
© 2001 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Rewers, A., Hedegaard, H., Lezotte, D., Meng, K., Battan, F. K., Emery, K., Hamman, R. F.
(2005). Childhood Femur Fractures, Associated Injuries, and Sociodemographic Risk Factors: A Population-Based Study. Pediatrics
115: e543-e552
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Dedoukou, X., Spyridopoulos, T., Kedikoglou, S., Alexe, D. M., Dessypris, N., Petridou, E.
(2004). Incidence and Risk Factors of Fall Injuries Among Infants: A Study in Greece. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med
158: 1002-1006
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
Petridou, E, Browne, A, Lichter, E, Dedoukou, X, Alexe, D, Dessypris, N
(2002). What distinguishes unintentional injuries from injuries due to intimate partner violence: a study in Greek ambulatory care settings. Inj. Prev.
8: 197-201
[Abstract] [Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in ADC Online
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
