Tuesday, April 26, 2011

When The Economy Gets Worse, People Shake Babies More

When the going gets tough, the weak get going on their babies. A new study finds a rise in "shaken baby syndrome" correlates with economic downturns. At one hospital, the number of babies that were hospitalized for what is known as "non-accidental head trauma" doubled during th recession.

After reviewing the hospital records, researchers found that 43 cases of non-accidental head trauma (NAHT) happened during the 31 months between December 2007 to June 2010. During the 72 months before the recession, there were 50 cases. While the number of cases was larger, the earlier period covered more than double the number of months.

There were also significantly more injuries during the recession, which lead to more deaths and severe brain injury. "We really weren't expecting to see such a big increase," one of the researchers told HealthDay. "It was pretty startling for all of us."

The study's results were along the lines of another similar survey of four urban children's hospitals in Pittsburgh.

No matter the cause or level of frustration, nothing justifies it being taken out on a baby. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has information on preventing child abuse.

How long do you think it will be before poor economies are outlawed, to prevent such child abuse?

6 comments:

  1. It would be nice, but I think it's mostly because parents get frustrated with crying and needy children while trying to make enough money to survive. As terrible as it is, it makes a certain survival sense, why waste all the time and energy raising a baby when you can't ensure your own well being? You can always have another child when conditions are more favorable.

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  2. How hard is it to communicate to people that correlation does not imply causation?

    99% of all serial killers were weaned on cow's milk as babies. Therefore, milk makes you a serial killer. Um, no.

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  3. something is very wrong with that

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