Abstract

PERDOMO, Virginia; RUBINSTEIN, Marisa  and  GUTIERREZ, Stella. Epidemiology of pediatric patients referred to an Expert Reference Team specialized in Domestic Violence. CASMU- IAMPP, 2016. Arch. Pediatr. Urug. [online]. 2019, vol.90, n.6, pp.305-311.  Epub Dec 01, 2019. ISSN 0004-0584.  https://doi.org/10.31134/ap.90.6.2.

Child abuse and specifically child sexual abuse is a violation of Human Rights and a major global health problem. In Uruguay, the expert reference team specialized in domestic violence at health medical institutions assists children who are victims of violence. This paper aims at studying the incidence of children victims of moderate to severe abuse and of probable child sexual abuse assisted at the reference specialized center for domestic violence of the CASMU-IAMPP HMO and its epidemiological characteristics. We carried out an observational, descriptive study with patients under 18 years of age who were referred in 2016. The total number of children assisted was 87, the annual incidence was 0.2%. 38% of the children were victims of domestic violence, 31% suffered probable sexual abuse, 22% physical violence, 24% psychological and 7% negligence. In 90% of the cases, these situations of abuse were detected in the chronic stage. 77% were referred by the health sector; 34% by the treating pediatrician. 50% lived with the aggressor. In 38% of situations of sexual abuse, the father was the abuser. Of the schoolchildren victims of sexual abuse, 65% were overweight or obese. We hereby stress the importance of understanding and knowing the epidemiology of patients treated for a frequent and serious pathology in order to improve their quality of the approach used.

Keywords : Sexual child abuse; Child abuse; Domestic violence.

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