Child physical abuse is reported to occur in 4 to 16% of the population in high-income countries and is estimated to result in 155,000 deaths per year worldwide. Short-term consequences of recurring child physical abuse may include burns, skeletal injuries, thoraco-abdominal injuries, abusive head trauma, retinal hemorrhages, and/or death. Many survivors will remain with permanent neurologic sequelae, and long-term psychological sequelae (neurological impairment, developmental delay, blindness, behavioral disorders, and adult mental health diseases). Reducing the incidence and the consequences of child physical abuse is therefore an international priority. This challenge needs to be addressed in different ways including: prevention, early detection, accurate diagnosis, and optimal management.
The objective of this Research Topic is to explore the most recent knowledge to tackle efficiently the disaster of child physical abuse. Notably, we would welcome contributions with the following themes:
• Current epidemiology of child physical abuse;
• Evaluation of preventive strategies to reduce the incidence of child physical abuse (integrated packages, understanding of social ecology);
• New screening methods to early detect child physical abuse (management of sentinel injuries, artificial intelligence);
• Limits of current diagnostic tools and strategies, and the place of newly proposed ones in the child care pathway (whole body MRI, PET-scan, etc.);
• Management of the physically abused child at the short and long-term (personalized rehabilitation, long term neuro-psychologic follow-up).
Given the multiple dimensions of prevention, early detection, accurate diagnosis, and management of child physical abuse, contributions are expected from teams with various scientific and medical backgrounds: primary healthcare, hospital medical and surgical pediatrics, radiology, nuclear medicine, ophthalmology, legal medicine, pathology, psychology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, public health, epidemiology and biostatistics, digital health
Child physical abuse is reported to occur in 4 to 16% of the population in high-income countries and is estimated to result in 155,000 deaths per year worldwide. Short-term consequences of recurring child physical abuse may include burns, skeletal injuries, thoraco-abdominal injuries, abusive head trauma, retinal hemorrhages, and/or death. Many survivors will remain with permanent neurologic sequelae, and long-term psychological sequelae (neurological impairment, developmental delay, blindness, behavioral disorders, and adult mental health diseases). Reducing the incidence and the consequences of child physical abuse is therefore an international priority. This challenge needs to be addressed in different ways including: prevention, early detection, accurate diagnosis, and optimal management.
The objective of this Research Topic is to explore the most recent knowledge to tackle efficiently the disaster of child physical abuse. Notably, we would welcome contributions with the following themes:
• Current epidemiology of child physical abuse;
• Evaluation of preventive strategies to reduce the incidence of child physical abuse (integrated packages, understanding of social ecology);
• New screening methods to early detect child physical abuse (management of sentinel injuries, artificial intelligence);
• Limits of current diagnostic tools and strategies, and the place of newly proposed ones in the child care pathway (whole body MRI, PET-scan, etc.);
• Management of the physically abused child at the short and long-term (personalized rehabilitation, long term neuro-psychologic follow-up).
Given the multiple dimensions of prevention, early detection, accurate diagnosis, and management of child physical abuse, contributions are expected from teams with various scientific and medical backgrounds: primary healthcare, hospital medical and surgical pediatrics, radiology, nuclear medicine, ophthalmology, legal medicine, pathology, psychology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, public health, epidemiology and biostatistics, digital health
