S u m m a r y

 

Peltokallio, L. & Kujala, T. (2009)

Infant and child shaking injuries

Psykologia 44:352&endash;363. Sastamala ISSN 0355-1067.

Infant and child shaking injuries result from battering, which typically occurs by holding the child's shoulders and shaking him/her forcefully back and forth. Infants and children are easily injured permanently by this kind of shaking due to their motor and neurological immaturity. Both the infant's personal characteristics and infant behavior in general may increase the risk for battery. Injuries caused by shaking, especially their long-term effects, have been fairly little investigated, the majority of the investigations being from the medical point of view. The injuries caused by shaking are often severe and even fatal: about 15-35 % of the shaken children die and only few of the surviving children have no permanent damage. Shaking causes injuries such as subdural and retinal hematoma, damages of midbrain, spinal cord, shoulders and bones. It also causes a variety of cognitive, visual, visuospatial, languageand behavioral deficits. The recovery from brain damage is supported by the high structural and functional plasticity of the child's nervous system. However, an infant has a lack of compensation mechanisms due to the small repertoire of skills in infancy. Furthermore, the severity of injuries caused by shaking often prevents good recovery.

 

Keywords:

Shaken injuries, shaken baby syndrome, inflicted head injury, non-accidental head injury, abusive head injury, outcome, infant

 

Authors:

 

Laura Peltokallio

MA (Psych)

Turku, laura.peltokallio@gmail.com

 

Teija Kujala

PhD (Psych)

Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology

PO-BOX 9, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki