Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
OBJECTIVE: Abusive head injuries among infants (shaken infant or shaken impact syndrome) represent a devastating form of child abuse; an effective prevention program that reduces the incidence of abusive head injuries could save both lives and the costs of caring for victims. We wished to determine whether a comprehensive, regional, hospital-based, parent education program, administered at the time of the child's birth, could be successfully implemented and to examine its impact on the incidence of abusive head injuries among infants 95% of parents remembered having received the information. The incidence of abusive head injuries decreased by 47%, from 41.5 cases per 100,000 live births during the 6-year control period to 22.2 cases per 100000 live births during the 5.5-year study period. No comparable decrease was seen in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the years 1996-2002, which bracketed the control and study periods in western New York State. CONCLUSIONS: A coordinated, hospital-based, parent education program, targeting parents of all newborn infants, can reduce significantly the incidence of abusive head injuries among infants and children <36 months of age.
Dias et al. (Fri,) studied this question.