Functional status impairment at six-month follow-up is independently associated with child physical abuse mechanism

BACKGROUND Children with abusive injuries have worse mortality, length-of-stay, complications, and healthcare costs compared to those sustaining an accidental injury. Long-term functional impairment is common in children with abusive head trauma but has not been examined in a cohort with heterogeneous body region injuries. OBJECTIVE To assess for an independent association between child physical abuse and functional impairment at discharge and six-month follow-up. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING Seriously injured children (