Clinical Presentations Of Child Abuse: What Are The Warning Signs In Medical Consultations In Some Referral Hospitals In Yaoundé?

Background: The practitioner must recognize both the warning signs of child abuse and collaborate in the prevention of its consequences. The general objective of our study was to report the different clinical presentations of abused children received in some referral hospitals in Yaoundé that could be used as warning signs in medical consultations. Method: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in some referral hospitals in Yaoundé from January ۱, ۲۰۱۵ to December ۳۱, ۲۰۱۹, i.e. ۵ years. All records of children under ۱۸ years of age who were victims of abuse were included in our study consecutively. Statistical analysis was done using Epi-info TM version ۷.۲ software. Results: Female children were the most frequently abused (۱۲۱; ۹۱.۷%) with an age range of ۰-۱۴ years (۱۲۵; ۹۴.۰%). The main reasons for medical consultation were the request for human immunodeficiency virus testing (۱۰۵; ۶۹.۱%) and the suspicion of sexual assault (۸۱; ۵۳.۳%). The most frequent traumatic lesions were lacerations (۶۷; ۵۹.۳%) with the anogenital area (۹۸; ۸۶.۷%) as the main body location. Conclusion: Improving the diagnosis of child abuse by studying clinical signs would be crucial in the fight against this scourge in our context by considering the infectious risk, the suspicion of sexual assault and anogenital lesions as the main warning signs.

Keywords:

Sevices , Children , Clinical Presentation , Alert , Cameroon