Shaken Baby Syndrome Reports Grew During Recession
A report by four U.S. hospitals said that the number of cases of Shaken Baby Syndrome, resulting in mostly irreversible neurological damage, jumped within the timeframe of the recession that hit the U.S. economy towards the end of 2007.
Rachel Berger of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania teamed up with three other leading pediatric centers in Seattle, Cincinnati and Columbus to study the issue.
Researchers recorded 512 cases of abusive head trauma (AHT) from 2004 through 2009, 16 percent of which were fatal.
The researchers found a notable jump during the session while analyzing the cases month-by-month. Beginning on December 1, 2007, an increase from 6.0 cases were reported per month before the recession and 9.2 during.
There was 121 cases recorded in 2008, during the data’s height, compared to 66 cases in 2005, which was the lowest number of the six-year period.
"These data suggest that the rate of AHT has increased since the start of the current recession," the researchers said, in the study presented at a weekend meeting the Pediatric Academic Societies in Vancouver, Canada.
The report cautioned: "There was no ecologic relationship between changes in unemployment rates and the magnitude of the increase in AHT," it also suggested that because the results are "highly concerning," prevention efforts "may need to be increased during times of economic hardship."
There are 1,200 – 1,400 cases every year in the U.S., according to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome (NCSBS). Eighty percent suffer permanent damage of the 75 percent who survive.
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