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BRUISING PATTERNS IN INFANTS ARE KEY TO IDENTIFYING CHILD ABUSE
The Welsh Child Protection Systematic Review Group lead by Paediatricians Professor Jo Sibert and and Dr Alison Kemp and Dr Sabine Maguire at the Wales College of Medicine analysed research studies published over a 50-year period. They found that there is a limited amount of quality studies in the field but that there are specific recognising patterns of in bruising in children on infants is the key to identifying children who had been abused. Whilst acknowledging that the amount of bruising that in a a child sustains in everyday activities and play is related to the increased development of movement in that child, the researchers agreed that abused children tend to have bruises on the head, face and neck, buttocks, trunks and arms, usually large, often multiple and in clusters, with some carrying the imprint of the implement used. These bruises are often associated with other older types of injuries. In non-abused babies, evidence shows that bruising in those who aren’t yet able to move independently is less than 1% but that 17% of babies who are starting to crawl or walk, 53% of those actually walking and the majority of schoolchildren, have bruises. These tend to be small and sustained over bony prominences and found on the front of the body. The team is calling for quality research to be urgently undertaken across the whole spectrum of children with all medical, social and developmental contexts being assessed and compared to children wheren abuse is suspected.
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