Mandated reporters at hospitals are more likely to suspect Black pediatric patients of abuse than white patients, according to a study published Dec. 18 in JAMA.
Physical abuse affects 9 out of 1,000 children and adolescents each year, according to previous research cited by the study. Child abuse is a leading cause of childhood injury and death, but researchers from Stanford (Calif.) University's School of Medicine say accurate detection is difficult.
The researchers set out to examine whether there are racial and ethnic disparities in suspicion for child abuse in pediatric patients admitted for a traumatic injury. From a dataset of more than 630,000 pediatric patients admitted to a hospital between 2006 and 2019, 13,579 had injuries attributed to suspected child abuse.
Hospital employees were less likely to suspect child abuse for Hispanic pediatric patients, the study found. Also, compared to white pediatric patients, Black children's injuries were more likely to be associated with suspected child abuse.
Black and white children have similar median injury severity scores and mortality rates.
A possible explanation for this disparity is clinicians could be hesitant to report parents with similar ethnicity and socioeconomic status to themselves. This might be prompting over- and underevaluations, the researchers said.
"Overevaluation of Black children and adolescents and those with low [socioeconomic status] not only risks unnecessary and traumatic family separation, but may also increase hospital costs, hospitalization length, and caregiver anxiety," the study authors said.