Race and the shaken baby syndrome: experience at one hospital

Abstract

At Children's Hospital of Michigan there seemed to be a disproportionate number of white infants with shaken baby syndrome (SBS) relative to the proportion of white infants in our physically abused population. All reports of suspected child abuse on children less than or equal to 18 months from Children's Hospital from 1980-1985 were reviewed. The total number of abused children 18 months or younger was 545 (447 black, 87 white, 1 unknown). There were 20 children in the SBS group. Eight of 87 (9%) of white abused infants had SBS compared with 12 of 447 (2.7%) of black abused infants. The occurrence of SBS in white abused infants was disproportionately higher than in blacks. This finding has not been previously reported. Before generalizations can be made, additional data must be obtained.