Trends, Diagnoses, and Hospitalization Costs of Child Abuse and Neglect in the United States of America

Armeda Stevenson Wojciak, Brandon Butcher, Aislinn Conrad, Carol Coohey, Resmiye Oral and Corinne Peek-Asa
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Armeda Stevenson Wojciak: Department of Family Social Science, College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
Brandon Butcher: Injury Prevention Research Center and Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Aislinn Conrad: School of Social Work, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Carol Coohey: School of Social Work, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA
Resmiye Oral: Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth, Geisel School of Pediatrics, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03756, USA
Corinne Peek-Asa: Injury Prevention Research Center and Department of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 14, 1-12

Abstract: We conducted a secondary analysis of the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) to examine child abuse and neglect hospitalization from 1998–2016. The NIS is the largest all-payer, inpatient care database in the United States and is maintained by the Health Care Utilization Project. Participants were youth 18 years and younger with discharged diagnoses of child abuse and neglect from hospitals. The rate of child abuse or neglect hospitalizations did not vary significantly over the study period (1998–2016), which on average was 6.9 per 100,000 children annually. Males (53.0%), infants (age < 1; 47.3%), and young children (age 1–3; 24.2%) comprised most of the child maltreatment cases. Physical abuse was the most frequent type of maltreatment leading to hospitalization. Government insurance was the most common payer source, accounting for 77.3% of all child maltreatment hospitalizations and costing 1.4 billion dollars from 2001–2016. Hospitalizations due to child abuse and neglect remain steady and are costly, averaging over $116 million per year. The burden on government sources suggests a high potential for return on investment in effective child abuse prevention strategies.

Keywords: child maltreatment; hospitalization rates; hospitalization costs; National Inpatient Sample (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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