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Shaken Baby Syndrome

NCJ Number
211492
Journal
Forensic Nursing Volume: 1 Issue: 3 Dated: Summer 2005 Pages: 111-117
Author(s)
Nickolaus J. Miehl
Date Published
2005
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This overview of shaken baby syndrome (SBS) discusses its history, epidemiology, clinical presentation, clinical management, morbidity and mortality, and prevention.
Abstract
In 1946, Dr. John Caffey, a pediatric radiologist, first described what he termed "whiplash shaken-baby syndrome," a cluster of infantile subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhage, traction-type metaphyseal fractures, and retinal hemorrhage. The cluster of injuries was noted in many infants who lacked any external injury. The high proportion of head weight to body weight in infants, along with infants' weak neck muscles, poor motor control, and higher concentration of water in the brain matter make them susceptible to injury through violent shaking. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect (2001), head injuries are the chief cause of traumatic death and the leading cause of abuse fatalities in children. This paper lists the risk factors for nonaccidental injuries in children and infants; and it also outlines those situations that should alert healthcare providers to the possibility of infant abuse. SBS victims can present with a wide variety of symptoms that range from the very mild to the most critical. The treatment team should consist of a healthcare practitioner who can immediately resuscitate and stabilize the victim while diagnostic examinations are being performed. The diagnostic team should be multidisciplinary, including a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse. The morbidity and mortality of inflicted head injury is worse than accidental head injury. Many prevention programs focus on education, with the primary goal being to teach parents and caregivers about typical stresses in parenting/caregiving and how to cope appropriately with crying children, with attention to the dangers of shaking a baby. Some examples of such prevention programs are provided. 27 references