1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« Shaken baby syndrome is an extremely serious form of abusive head trauma, the extent of which is unknown in Canada. Our objective was to describe, from a national perspective, the clinical characteristics and outcomeS of children admitted to hospital with shaken baby syndrome. » (p. 155)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
364 babies were observed for this study. « The median age of subjects was 4.6 months (range 7 days to 58 months), and 56% were boys. » (p. 155) « We performed a retrospective chart review, for the years 1988-1998, of the cases of shaken baby syndrome that were reported to the child protection teams of 11 pediatric tertiary care hospitals in Canada. » (p. 155) These hospitals are located in Montreal, St-John, Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

« Shaken baby syndrome results in an extremely high degree of mortality and morbidity. Ongoing care of these children places a substantial burden on the medical system, caregivers and society. Presenting complaints for the 364 children identified as having shaken baby syndrome were nonspecific (seizure-like episode [45%], decreased level of consciousness [43%] and respiratory difficulty [34%]), though bruising was noted on examination in 46%. A history and/or clinical evidence of previous maltreatment was noted in 220 children (60%), and 80 families (22%) had had previous involvement with child welfare authorities. As a direct result of the shaking, 69 children died (19%) and, of those who survived, 162 (55%) had ongoing neurological injury and 192 (65%) had visual impairment. Only 65 (22%) of those who survived were considered to show no signs of health or developmental impairment at the time of discharge. » (155) « In summary, the outcome of SBS is devastating to the child; ongoing care of these children places a substantial burden on the medical system, caregivers and society. Physicians need to be aware of the nonspecific clinical presentation. » (p. 158)