Child abuse is common and under-reported. A common initial location for presentation is the emergency department. Standardization of indications for an evaluation for abuse, and standardization of the workup itself can both improve child safety and also reduce the existing disparities in which children are evaluated for abusive injury. In collaboration with colleagues in the Division of Public Health Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, our faculty have investigated associations with child physical and sexual abuse in order to more readily identify children suffering from abuse.
Faculty with a research focus on child abuse pediatrics:
- Elizabeth Camp, Ph.D.: epidemiology
- Email: eacamp@texaschildrens.org
- Andrea Cruz, M.D., MPH: predictive value of imaging and laboratory evaluation for suspected child abuse
- Email: acruz@bcm.edu
- Twitter: @atcruz97
- Nina Singh, M.D.: improving evaluation methods/guidelines for child abuse identification
- Email: Nidhi.Singh@bcm.edu
- Twitter: @NinaVSingh
Naik-Mathuria B, Johnson BL, Todd HF, Donaruma-Kwoh M, Bachim A, Rubalcava D, Vogel AM, Chen L, Escobar MA. Development of the red flag scorecard screening tool for identification of child physical abuse in the emergency department. J Pediatr Surg. 2023. PMID 36841704.
Camp EA, Greeley CS, Donaruma M, Isaac R. Current weight status of sexually assaulted pediatric female patients in an emergency department setting. Child Obes. 2022; PMID 36206056.
Donaruma-Kwoh MM, Weary CE, Cruz AT. Polyembolokoilamania in child sexual abuse: physical examination findings after abusive foreign body insertion and literature summary. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2022. PMID 35904952.
Morgan JM, Bachim A, Cruz AT, Donaruma-Kwoh M. Screening for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in child abuse evaluations: Twelve years of data. Child Abuse Negl. 2021. PMID 33486258.
