Data resource profile: the Edinburgh Child Protection Dataset - a new linked administrative data source of children referred to Child Protection paediatric services in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Introduction: Child maltreatment affects a substantial number of children. However current evidence relies on either longitudinal studies, which are complex and resource-intensive, or linked data studies based on social services data, which is arguably the tip of the iceberg in terms of children who are maltreated. Reliable, linked, population-level data on children referred to services due to suspected abuse or neglect will increase our ability to examine risk factors for, and outcomes following, abuse and neglect.

Maltreatment or violence-related injury in children and adolescents admitted to the NHS: comparison of trends in England and Scotland between 2005 and 2011.

Objective: Legislation to safeguard children from maltreatment by carers or violence by others was advanced in England and Scotland around 2004-2005 and resulted in different policies and services. We examined whether subsequent trends in injury admissions to hospital related to maltreatment or violence varied between the two countries.

Setting And Participants: We analysed rates of all unplanned injury admission to National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in England and Scotland between 2005 and 2011 for children and adolescents aged less than 19 years.

Child protection medical assessments: why do we do them?

Introduction: Child protection guidelines highlight the importance of medical assessments for children suspected of having been abused.

Aim: To identify how medical assessments might contribute to a diagnosis of child abuse and to the immediate outcome for the child.

Method: Review of all notes pertaining to medical assessments between January 2002 and March 2006.

Non-accidental injury in children--an update.

The abuse of children is a universal problem. It affects children from all social classes, racial and religious groups. Child abuse involves acts of commission or omission which directly or indirectly result in harm to the child and prevent a normal development into healthy adulthood.

Incidence and demography of non-accidental head injury in southeast Scotland from a national database.

Background: This study utilized an existing national database of cases of non-accidental head injury (NAHI; also called inflicted traumatic brain injury [inflicted TBI] and shaken baby syndrome [SBS]) in Scotland to report the incidence, confidence intervals, and demography of such cases in Southeast Scotland.

Methods: This prospective population-based study was conducted from January 1998 to September 2006. Data from the Lothian region of Scotland, where there is known full ascertainment of infant head injuries, including NAHI, have been used to calculate the incidence rate for this region of Scotland, with government statistics providing the normal annual infant population as the denominator.

Epidemiology of oronasal hemorrhage in the first 2 years of life: implications for child protection.

Background: Epistaxis in childhood is common but unusual in the first years of life. Oronasal blood has been proposed as a marker of child abuse.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all hospital notes of children in the Lothian region of Scotland who were <2 years of age and in whom facial blood had been recorded over a 10-year period.

The epidemiology of fractures in children.

A retrospective study of all paediatric fractures presenting to hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2000 was undertaken. It showed that the incidence of fractures was 20.2/1000/year and that 61% of children's fractures occurred in males.

A retrospective case series of skeletal surveys in children with suspected non-accidental injury.

Introduction: The skeletal survey is widely used as the principal radiological investigation in suspected physical abuse of infants and young children. However, the evidence on which current guidelines are based is limited, especially for siblings of index cases. We conducted a retrospective study to describe the characteristics of children who underwent skeletal surveys for suspected non-accidental injury (NAI) in the Edinburgh area; to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of skeletal surveys; and to identify any predictive factors that might guide clinical practice.

Early intervention service for non-abusing parents of victims of child sexual abuse: Pilot study.

Background: Childhood sexual abuse is a non-specific risk factor for psychopathological disorders in childhood and later life. The response of non-abusing parents to disclosure of abuse may influence the child's outcome. Aims To assess the level of psychopathological symptoms in parents and children following disclosure of sexual abuse and the changes following a parental treatment intervention.

Older children and adolescents surviving with vertically acquired HIV infection.

This article describes the characteristics of children infected vertically with HIV surviving 10 years or more who were enrolled in the prospective European Collaborative Study. Thirty-four of 187 infected children were identified with a median age of 11.4 years (range, 10.