Child abuse generally takes four forms: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. The number of cases varies over time. This study presents data from a region in Eastern Hungary for the time period from 1963 to 1983, during which time there was a trend at first toward a higher incidence of cases and then a significant decrease in child abuse. The declined has continued. There is no apparent explanation for the decline. The number of sexually abused children was significant, whereas the number of psychologically abused children was small, when compared to other studies. Battered child syndrome is not a frequent occurrence in the practice of forensic medicine in Hungary, which makes the use of a specialist necessary in the determination of the diagnosis. References