Children hospitalized for suspected maltreatment in Greece: who, why and what for?

ABSTRACT Child maltreatment crosses all socioeconomic, ethnic, religious, and educational boundaries; however, studies focusing on demographic characteristics of these children in Greece are scarce. Despite recent effort there is no national registry and the response system remains fragmented. Since the existing response system often includes hospital admission, this study aims to describe the characteristics of children up to 16 years of age with suspected maltreatment admitted to a tertiary children’s hospital in Greece, as well as to describe the case management procedure and to calculate the length and baseline cost of hospitalization for this population of children. The socioeconomic factor most often recorded in the study participants was parental unemployment within the nuclear family structure. The main reason for referral to Social Services was neglect. The mean hospitalization duration was 28.5 days. The most frequent outcome was discharge to parental home under Social Services’ supervision. The analysis of associations between gender, age, residence status and the referral reasons showed significant differences. Quantitative and qualitative descriptors of children with suspected maltreatment offer potential insights on the social determinants of health. Our findings have the potential of offering assistance to future interventions that aim to develop effective system responses and preventive strategies.