Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35786972›Full record

ReviewThe British journal of radiology2022

Impact on the incidence of suspected physical abuse in children under 24 months of age during a global pandemic: A multi-centre Irish regional retrospective cross-sectional analysis.

Caoimhe McDonnell, Michael Courtney, Michael Barrett, Thérèse McDonnell, Thara Persaud, Eilish Twomey, Sinead Harty, Angela T Byrne

Open access · hybridAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in The British journal of radiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 24% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Caoimhe McDonnellSt James Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Michael CourtneySt James Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.ORCID 0000-0002-9790-6401
Michael BarrettChildren's Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.
Thérèse McDonnellCentre for Interdisciplinary Research Education and Innovation in Health Systems, UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Thara PersaudTallaght University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Eilish TwomeyChildren's Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.
Sinead HartyChildren's Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.
Angela T ByrneChildren's Health Ireland at Crumlin, Dublin, Ireland.
Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin · IESt. James's Hospital · IEUniversity College Dublin · IETallaght University Hospital · IE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThe advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in periods of nationwide restrictions in Ireland including school and workplace closures. The authors hypothesised that this disruption to society may have led to a change in patterns of suspected physical abuse (SPA) presentations to the paediatric emergency department (ED), whilst ED attendance fell dramatically during the period. We reviewed data to determine whether there was an increase in presentations of SPA during periods of social restrictions.

methodsThe National Integrated Medical Imaging Service was searched for all skeletal survey examinations performed between the dates of the 1 March 2016 and 28 Feb 2021 for studies performed in cases of SPA. Electronic records of attendance were extracted from the emergency department administrative system at the three paediatric emergency departments which serve the 400,000 children regionally. The data were reviewed to determine if SPA presentations increased during restriction periods.

results311 individual paediatric patients aged 24 months and under were referred for SPA skeletal survey during the study period. During the 2020/2021 period, 60 children were referred for SPA workup and there was no statistically significant difference between monthly referrals (mean 5, sd 2.92) in this period and matched periods over the preceding 4 years (mean 5.23, sd 2.69).

conclusionsThe incidence of SPA did not increase during the period of national restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Periods of social restrictions taken to protect the public health during a pandemic do not result in short term increases in suspected physical abuse in the regional paediatric population.

Indexed as

COVID-19PandemicsChildCross-Sectional StudiesEmergency Service, HospitalHumansIncidenceMulticenter Studies as TopicPhysical AbuseRetrospective Studies

Identifiers

PMID35786972
PMCPMC10996961
OpenAlexW4283829336

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.