Children-Basel最新文献

{"title":"A Nutrition Education Intervention Positively Affects the Diet-Health-Related Practices and Nutritional Status of Mothers and Children in a Pulse-Growing Community in Halaba, South Ethiopia.","authors":"Getahun Ersino Lombamo, Carol J Henry, Gordon A Zello","doi":"10.3390/children11111400","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111400","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>We conducted a six-month nutrition education intervention focused on the consumption of pulses and other foods to assess the effect on knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) as well as the nutritional status of children and mothers from two pulse-growing communities in Halaba, south Ethiopia.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>About 200 mother-child pairs in each of two purposively selected communities participated in this intervention study. A six-month nutrition education programme, involving interactive monthly community meetings and home visits, was offered to one of the two communities and the other served as a control/comparison. This study incorporated the use of Health Belief Model constructs to assess the KAP/perceptions of mothers surrounding pulse and other food consumptions, as well as nutrition-related issues before and after the intervention. Objective measures included dietary diversity scores (DDSs), one-day weighed dietary intakes and nutritional status measures based on anthropometric information. Demographics and socioeconomic information were also collected at baseline and endline.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Significant improvements (<i>p</i> < 0.05) were found in the intervention group on the KAP and perceptions of pulse nutrition benefits among mothers, DDSs and pulse and animal source food consumption indexes for mothers and children and the mean body-mass-index-for-age Z-score and wasting among children.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Community-based nutrition education interventions involving monthly interactive community meetings and home visits in pulse-growing communities from a resource-poor country like Ethiopia can be effective in improving mothers' knowledge of pulse nutrition and consumption frequency, leading to improvements in the DDSs of children and mothers while decreasing child underweight and wasting.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11592757/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733080","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Voices of Hope: Leveraging Think-Aloud Cognitive Interviews to Develop a Hope Assessment Tool for Young People Living with Chronic Health Conditions.","authors":"Emily von Scheven, Mitchell Braun, Bhupinder Nahal, Emily R Perito, Paul Brakeman, William Daniel Soulsby, Laura Quill, Addison Cuneo, Linda S Franck","doi":"10.3390/children11111396","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111396","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background/objectives: </strong>Hope is a universal, multidimensional, and nuanced concept that may have specific meaning for young people living with chronic health conditions anticipated to last into adulthood. We previously identified definitions of hope for youth living with chronic health conditions derived from young people's and their caregivers' own words. Here, we aimed to develop a hope assessment tool to facilitate the future evaluation of interventions to support wellness and health for young people growing up with chronic health conditions; Methods: We developed Likert-type scale questions using the young people's and caregivers' definitions of hope and applied the think-aloud cognitive interview method to assess understanding and to inform sequential iteration. Interviews were recorded and insights from participant interviews were analyzed thematically.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 11 youth (age 12-16 years) with various chronic health conditions completed surveys and interviews over three iteration cycles. Responses to the six-point Likert-scale questions ranged from 1 (none of the time) to 6 (all of the time) (median 5). All of the young people (n = 11) reported that they do things they enjoy, either all of the time or most of the time. In contrast, only 36% felt energetic, either all or most of the time. Three themes were identified: my body and hope; my identity, self-image, and hope; and my world and hope.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In addition to gaining important feedback that allowed us to improve item word choice to maximize assessment tool understanding, we gained valuable insights into the multidimensional construct of hope. Thematic analysis revealed the importance of physical symptoms and identity to the meaning of hope in the context of a young person's life. Our new hope assessment tool derived from the young people's own definition of hope has face and content validity for use in clinical and research settings to evaluate hope among pediatric patients living with chronic health conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11593005/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733456","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Diagnosis and Treatment of Infantile Hemangioma from the Primary Care Paediatricians to the Specialist: A Narrative Review.","authors":"Francesco Bellinato, Maria Marocchi, Luca Pecoraro, Marco Zaffanello, Micol Del Giglio, Giampiero Girolomoni, Giorgio Piacentini, Erika Rigotti","doi":"10.3390/children11111397","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111397","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Infantile haemangiomas (IHs) affect 3-10% of infants, 10% of whom need topical or systemic beta-blocker therapy. Propranolol is the first choice for IHs with a high risk of complications. Since more than half of IHs leave a permanent mark, to reduce outcomes, it is essential to start oral propranolol (2-3 mg/kg/day in 2 doses/day) within the 5th month of life (i.e., during the proliferative phase) and to complete the therapy cycle for at least 6 months. This review aims to summarise the epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of IHs and to highlight the importance of proper referral to specialised hub centres. Patients with vascular anomalies, particularly those suspected of having IH, should be referred to a specialised centre for accurate diagnosis, management by a multidisciplinary team, and timely treatment. IHs may pose life-threatening, functional, and aesthetic risks or may ulcerate. Segmental infantile haemangioma of the face/neck and the lumbosacral regions can be associated with various malformations. To ensure timely specialist evaluation and treatment to reduce the potential risk of complications, it is essential to identify high-risk IHs rapidly. The Infantile Haemangioma Referral Score (IHReS) scale is an important tool to assist primary care paediatricians and general dermatologists.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11593309/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733552","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Broadening the <i>PHIP</i>-Associated Neurodevelopmental Phenotype.","authors":"Giulia Pascolini, Giovanni Luca Scaglione, Balasubramanian Chandramouli, Daniele Castiglia, Giovanni Di Zenzo, Biagio Didona","doi":"10.3390/children11111395","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111395","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Monoallelic damaging variants in <i>PHIP</i> (MIM*612870), encoding the Pleckstrin Homology Domain Interacting Protein, have been associated with a novel neurodevelopmental disorder, also termed Chung-Jansen syndrome (CHUJANS, MIM#617991). Most of the described individuals show developmental delay (DD)/intellectual disability (ID), obesity/overweight, and variable congenital anomalies, so the condition can be considered as an ID-overweight syndrome.</p><p><strong>Case description: </strong>We evaluated a child presenting with DD/ID and a craniofacial phenotype reminiscent of a Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS)-like condition. We performed a clinical exome analysis on his biological sample, as well as an in silico prediction of the obtained data. At the same time, we interrogated the DeepGestalt technology powered by Face2Gene (F2G), using a frontal image of the proband, and clinically reviewed the earlier CHUJANS patients. In this child, we found a novel <i>PHIP</i> pathogenetic variant, which we corroborated through a protein modeling approach. The F2G platform supported the initial clinical hypothesis of a PTHS-like condition, while the clinical review highlighted the lack of the main frequent CHUJANS clinical features in this child.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The unusual clinical presentation of this novel patient resembles a PTHS-like condition. However, a novel variant in <i>PHIP</i> has been unexpectedly detected, expanding the phenotypic spectrum of CHUJANS. Notably, PTHS (MIM#610954), which is a different ID syndrome caused by heterozygous variants in <i>TCF4</i> (MIM*610954), is not classically considered in the differential diagnosis of CHUJANS nor has been cited in the previous studies. This could support other complex diagnoses and invite further patients' descriptions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11593145/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Incidence of and Risk Factors for Central Venous Catheter Thrombosis: Results from a Single-Center Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.","authors":"Maha Azzam, Yousef M AlTalhi, Hani Alsawadi, Mohamed Humoodi, Abdullah Alzahrani, Amir Shehzad Hayat, Mohammed Bakhsh, Sara Osman","doi":"10.3390/children11111394","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111394","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Central Venous Catheter (CVC) is a necessary and important tool in managing acutely ill children and those needing complex care. CVC enables infusing venous medication, fluids, blood products, chemotherapy, total parental nutrition, and painless withdrawal of blood for laboratory testing when needed.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To identify the incidence and risk factors for Central Venous Catheter-Related Thrombosis (CVC-RT) among patients admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Unit.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>This was a prospective, observational, single-center study that was conducted over 17 months from September 2019 to January 2021 at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Prospective observational study.</p><p><strong>Setting: </strong>King Abdulaziz Medical City, a tertiary care center in the western region of Saudi Arabia.</p><p><strong>Patients: </strong>Pediatric patients aged 1 to 168 months who were admitted to the PICU and required central line insertion (whether inserted centrally or peripherally) for more than 48 hours were included. Screening for thrombosis was performed within day 4-7 post-line insertion and again on the 14th day.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 255 patients were enrolled over 17 months. The incidence rate of CVC-RT was 5.4%. The type of CVC was significantly different between the two groups; in the no thrombosis group, 59.2% had a central line while in the CVC-RT groups, 51.9% had a PIC line (<i>p</i> = 0.027). In a multivariate regression analysis including patients' clinical profile, high D-dimer as baseline and low platelets were both significant risk factors for CVC-RT [adjusted OR = 3.22, CI (1.25-8.28), <i>p</i> = 0.015 and adjusted OR = 7.38, CI (2.18-25.02), <i>p</i> = 0.001], respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The current study found that PIC line was associated with an increased risk of CVC-RT, which is congruent with the literature. As children with CVC can have multiple risk factors for developing CVC-RT, it is important to conduct further large prospective studies to identify such factors and decrease the incidence of CVC-RT.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11592810/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reimagining Kangaroo Care for Preterm Infants: A Novel Garment for Safe and Comfortable Bonding.","authors":"Alexandra McMillin, Aviva Presser Aiden, Jules P Sherman, Ruth Ann Crystal, William D Rhine","doi":"10.3390/children11111392","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111392","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background/objectives: </strong>Kangaroo Care (KC) has been proven to enhance physiological stability, growth, and bonding in preterm, low-birthweight infants. Despite its benefits, KC is underutilized in Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) due to challenges in managing medical equipment. This study introduces the Kangarobe™, a novel garment designed to facilitate safe, comfortable, and efficient KC for medically fragile infants in high-acuity NICUs.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>From 2021 to 2023, a feasibility study was conducted involving 25 infant-parent dyads in a Level IV NICU. The Kangarobe™ was designed using human-centered design principles and tested on infants dependent on respiratory support. Surveys employing a 5-point Likert scale were administered to parents and nursing staff to assess safety, comfort, ease of use, and procedural access.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Survey results showed positive feedback from both parents and nursing staff, particularly in the areas of safety and comfort. For example, 72-80% of parents and nurses responded positively regarding ease and comfort. High level of agreement (76%) on the security of medical line management, with minimal negative feedback. In addition, parents using the Kangarobe™ held their infants for an average of 171 min per session, with a notable increase compared to the typical 75 min, indicating enhanced comfort and feasibility for extended KC sessions. The Kangarobe™ successfully enabled the secure management of medical lines and tubes, with the vertical access window improving procedural efficiency without interrupting KC.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The Kangarobe™ demonstrates promise in addressing barriers to KC in high-acuity NICUs. By enhancing safety, comfort, and ease of use, it supports wider adoption of KC practices, potentially improving patient safety, staff efficiency, and family-centered care.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11593077/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nursing Students' Volunteer Experiences of Interacting with Children Receiving Pediatric Palliative Care: A Qualitative Study.","authors":"Eunju Jin, Hyunju Kang","doi":"10.3390/children11111391","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111391","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background/objectives: </strong>Pediatric palliative care refers to active, holistic care that provides support not only for families but also for the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs of pediatric patients with severe life-threatening diseases. Nursing students' volunteer work for pediatric patients requiring palliative care is a unique and special experience with which to understand them as prospective medical personnel and that allows them to directly experience and feel the needs and reality related to emotional support. This study aimed to explore the experiences of nursing students who volunteer in pediatric in palliative care settings.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The participants, selected through purposive sampling, were 20 nursing undergraduate students who volunteered at a pediatric palliative care medical center or a private community organization providing a support program for pediatric patients receiving palliative care. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed using content analysis. Data were collected from 7 August to 27 November 2023.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Five major categories were derived: (1) meeting with children-the process of facing and overcoming challenges; (2) the journey of changing through interactions with children; (3) parting with the child-anticipation, shock, and remembering; (4) new insights into pediatric palliative care; (5) and growing as a nursing student.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The volunteer activities enabled the nursing students to interact with pediatric patients undergoing palliative care outside the sphere of clinical education. It increased these students' awareness of palliative care and provided an opportunity for self-reflection and growth. It also provided an opportunity to improve empathy and provide emotional support.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11592737/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733489","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Identifying Facilitators and Barriers to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Visitation in Mothers of Low Socioeconomic Status: A Qualitative Investigation.","authors":"Dana B McCarty, Renée M Ferrari, Shelley Golden, Bharathi J Zvara, Wylin D Wilson, Meghan E Shanahan","doi":"10.3390/children11111390","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111390","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background/objectives: </strong>The experience of parenting in a highly medicalized, unnatural environment can result in impaired mother-infant bonding, but increased maternal presence at the infant's bedside has been associated with improved infant and maternal outcomes. The primary objective of this study was to explore barriers and facilitators during the NICU Experience in regard to maternal presence in an NICU.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We interviewed 12 mothers (7 Black, 5 white) of low socioeconomic status (SES) whose preterm infants (average birth gestational age of 27 weeks) were currently hospitalized in an NICU. We engaged the NICU Family Advisory Board in all steps of the research process.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Barriers and facilitators to maternal presence spanned all levels of the Socioecological Model; however, barriers were mostly at the societal, community, and institutional levels, while facilitators varied based on interpersonal and individual-level factors. Assets that mothers accessed to facilitate visits, such as free housing and shuttle services, were not available to all mothers based on individual circumstances (e.g., caregiving responsibilities). While a few mothers identified negative interactions with health care practitioners, these encounters were not attributed to racism or described as barriers to visitation.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Hospitals can support families with infants in an NICU by providing free or inexpensive short-term sibling support, alleviating the burden of parking costs, and communicating early and frequently about available institutional resources during the hospital stay.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11593120/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Night Sleep, Parental Bedtime Practices and Language Development in Low-Risk Preterm and Full-Term Late Talkers: A Longitudinal Study in the Third Year of Life.","authors":"Mariagrazia Zuccarini, Martina Riva, Arianna Aceti, Luigi Corvaglia, Anat Scher, Annalisa Guarini, Alessandra Sansavini","doi":"10.3390/children11111393","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111393","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Background</i>: Studies on night sleep and parental bedtime practices and their associations with language development in populations at risk of language delay and neonatal conditions, such as late talkers and preterm children, are scarce. <i>Objectives</i>: Our objective was to longitudinally examine the development of night sleep (total night sleep difficulties, settling, night waking, and co-sleeping), parental bedtime practices (total parental bedtime practices, active physical comforting, encouraging autonomy, and leaving to cry), and expressive language (word and sentence production), and their associations in low-risk preterm and full-term late talkers from 31 to 37 months of age. <i>Methods</i>: Parents of 38 late talkers, 19 low-risk preterm and 19 full-term children, completed the Italian versions of the Infant Sleep Questionnaire, the Parental Interactive Bedtime Behavior Scale, and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory Words and Sentences Long Form. <i>Results</i>: Late talkers' night sleep difficulties, such as settling to sleep and night waking, decreased over time, with low-risk preterm late talkers experiencing more night waking and co-sleeping than full-term peers. Parents reported that instances of active physical comforting and leaving to cry also decreased, with parents of low-risk preterm late talkers reporting higher active physical comforting scores than parents of full-term peers. Improvements in parental practices of encouraging autonomy were significantly associated with increased sentence production from 31 to 37 months. <i>Conclusions</i>: Findings highlight the importance of monitoring night sleep in preterm and full-term late talkers. They also suggest that populations vulnerable to sleep and language delays may particularly benefit from targeted interventions promoting autonomy in their bedtime routines, which, in turn, could support their language development trajectories.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11592692/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hasn't Child Abuse Been Overlooked? An Evaluation of Abused Children Who Visited the Emergency Department with Sentinel Injuries.","authors":"Han Bit Kim, Hyun Noh","doi":"10.3390/children11111389","DOIUrl":"10.3390/children11111389","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Effective child abuse intervention requires understanding its prevalence. While obtaining a comprehensive national estimate of child abuse cases is challenging, sentinel injuries-minor yet unusual injuries like bruises or wounds in pre-cruising-age children-can provide an indicative measure. Using the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) data, this study aimed to gauge the prevalence of sentinel injuries using diagnostic codes in children under 12 months who visited emergency centers in South Korea and to evaluate the extent of child abuse screening in these cases.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This cross-sectional study used diagnostic codes indicative of sentinel injuries previously defined using the Delphi method. This study, using NEDIS data, included children under 12 months who visited emergency centers nationwide from 2014 to 2021 for reasons of injury. Children injured in car accidents were excluded. Independent variables included patient demographics, the injury mechanism, intentionality, the route of arrival, the emergency center level, the triage level, and specialist consultation. Dependent variables were the presence of a sentinel injury code, and whether diagnostic tests for child abuse were conducted.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Based on NEDIS and national statistical data, the frequency from 2014 to 2021 averaged 2501 per 100,000 of the population. Of the 186,065 patients studied, 63,131 (33.9%) had a diagnostic code corresponding to a sentinel injury. The proportion of patients undergoing diagnostic tests for suspected child abuse was 36.9% for those with sentinel injuries and 43.8% for those with other codes. The percentage of children with sentinel injuries receiving diagnostic tests increased annually, from 32.4% in 2014 to 54.4% in 2021. By institution, the rates were 36.4% for regional emergency centers, 38.4% for local emergency centers, and 20.0% for local emergency institutions.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>A significant proportion of children presenting to emergency departments had sentinel injury codes. However, the rate of diagnostic tests conducted for suspected child abuse in these cases remains suboptimal. Although there has been an upward trend in testing rates in recent years, there is a pressing need for increased attention to and enhancement in screening for child abuse among children with sentinel injury codes.</p>","PeriodicalId":48588,"journal":{"name":"Children-Basel","volume":"11 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11593244/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142733516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}