Frequency of child abuse and its complications in children referred to the social emergency department

 Child abuse is considered a significant public health problem that its different consequences can affect victim lifespan. This study was conducted to determine the frequency of child abuse in children referred to Kashan Social Emergency. 

This cross-sectional study was conducted by referring to child abuse records of Kashan Social Emergency during 2006 to 2016. Data were analyzed with SPSS-16 and Fisher Exact and Chi-square tests.  

The mean age of cases was 8.06 ± 4.28 years. Among cases 192 (71.6%) were neglect, 95 (35.4%) experienced emotional, 87 (32.5%) physical, and 12 (4.5%) experienced sexual abuse. Among abused children, anxiety was reported as the most common complication of psychological abuse (12.3%). Academic failure and malnutrition were reported as the most common complications of neglect abuse. In the case of physical abuse, the most common complications were bruising, swelling, injury, and burns. Sexual promiscuity was a complication of sexual abuse. The complications of emotional and psychological abuse significantly correlated with the sex. The sexual and physical abuse and neglect complications had no significant correlation with sex. There are statistical differences between sex, physical neglect (P=0.04) and physical abuse (P=0.001). 

It seems that neglect abuse is the most common child abuse among the cases referred to social emergency. The boys are more at risk of physical neglect and physical abuse.