Epidemiology of Abusive Head Trauma Among Children in Saudi Arabia

Fahad S Alanazi; Hassan Saleheen; Majid Al-Eissa; Abdullah A Alshamrani; Ahmed A Alhuwaymani; Waleed K Jarwan; Mohammed S Hamaid

doi:10.7759/cureus.19014

Epidemiology of Abusive Head Trauma Among Children in Saudi Arabia

Cureus. 2021 Oct 24;13(10):e19014. doi: 10.7759/cureus.19014. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Authors

Fahad S Alanazi¹, Hassan Saleheen^{2

3}, Majid Al-Eissa^{1

4

3}, Abdullah A Alshamrani¹, Ahmed A Alhuwaymani¹, Waleed K Jarwan¹, Mohammed S Hamaid¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences College of Medicine, Riyadh, SAU.
² Public Health, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, Riyadh, SAU.
³ National Family Safety Program, King Abdulaziz Medical City Riyadh, Riyadh, SAU.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, King Abdullah Specialized Children's Hospital, Riyadh, SAU.

Abstract

Background and objectives: To examine abusive head trauma (AHT) trends using data obtained from hospital-based child protection centers (CPCs) and the distribution of age in months among young children in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted that includes data obtained from 58 hospital-based CPCs in all 13 regions of Saudi Arabia registered in the National Family Safety Registry from 2010 to 2020. AHT cases (n=106) were identified for inclusion in the registry by a daily review of the emergency department logbooks.

Results: Over the 11-year period, there was a sharp increase in the number of cases, specifically after 2014, from seven cases per year in 2010 to 16 cases in 2020. AHT affects predominantly children aged 0-12 months (72.6%), followed by 13-24 months (17.9%), 25-36 months (3.8%), 37-48 months (3.8%), and 49-60 months (1.9%). Victims were characterized by a predominance of crying infants (23.6%), past history of abuse (13.2%), a child's chronic disease and disability (7.6%), and prematurity (2.8%).

Conclusion: Different training and educational programs need to be performed to raise awareness of AHT. Enacting the pediatrician's mandatory reporting law will improve the rate of reporting cases.

Keywords: abusive head trauma; children; infant; saudi arabia; victims.

Grants and funding

The authors would like to thank King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC) for their financial support of this study with grant number - RC15/067.