Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Child Maltreatment
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
1077559508326356v1
14/4/376    most recent
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Valvano, T. J.
Right arrow Articles by Leonhardt, D. E.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Valvano, T. J.
Right arrow Articles by Leonhardt, D. E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Does Bruising Help Determine Which Fractures Are Caused by Abuse?

Thomas J. Valvano

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Medical College of Wisconsin, tvalvano{at}chw.org

Helen J. Binns

Children's Memorial Hospital Northwestern University Children's Memorial Research Center, Chicago

Emalee G. Flaherty

Children's Memorial Hospital Northwestern University

Dan E. Leonhardt

CARES Northwest Emanuel Children's Hospital

To determine whether the presence or absence of bruising can be used to differentiate between abusive and nonabusive fractures, a retrospective study was conducted of patients with acute fractures referred to a child abuse team. A bruise and fracture were considered associated if both occurred on the same body site. Chart summaries, excluding information on bruising, were reviewed by 2 abuse experts to assign cause of injury. Of the 150 participants, fractures of 93 (62%) were categorized as abusive and 57 (38%) as nonabusive. Bruising associated with a fracture was found for 26% of abused and 25% of nonabused children. Most children (61%) had no bruises anywhere on the body, and this did not differ significantly by cause of injury. The sensitivity of a bruise associated with a fracture to predict abuse was only 26%. The presence or absence of bruising was not useful to differentiate between abusive and nonabusive fractures.

Key Words: bruise • fracture • abuse

This version was published on November 1, 2009

Child Maltreatment, Vol. 14, No. 4, 376-381 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1077559508326356
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?