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Two New Studies Aim to Reduce Infant Head Trauma


 

SAN DIEGO — Two studies represent “an opportunity to do some useful intervention research in shaken baby syndrome or abusive head trauma,” Janet Saul, Ph.D., said at a conference sponsored by Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego.

The first, led by Dr. Mark S. Dias, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, will test the efficacy of a hospital-based intervention. Components include a video and brochure about shaken baby syndrome, discussion about it with a clinician, posters, and a commitment statement for new parents to sign.

Parents receive four messages: crying is normal; there are ways to calm a baby; there are ways to calm yourself; it's important to select other caregivers.

Also, half the counties in Central Pennsylvania will receive a “booster” session for parents who come to pediatric offices for 2-, 4-, and 6-month immunization visits.

In North Carolina, researchers led by Dr. Desmond Runyan of the department of social medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are conducting a statewide preventive intervention that prepares parents to deal safely and explicitly with crying. Nurses in charge of nurseries in hospitals and birthing centers will show parents a DVD about the normalcy of crying and the ways to respond. The DVD will be given to parents to be shared with baby sitters and day care providers.

Pediatricians and family physicians also are being asked to deliver the same DVD and information to mothers at either prenatal care visits or the first postnatal visit. A mass media campaign to address infant crying and parent's response to crying is also being developed by the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, said Dr. Saul, a psychologist who is chief of the prevention development and evaluation branch in the division of violence prevention at the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Atlanta.

On the day of injury, a small subdural hemorrhage and subtle edema are seen.

Four weeks later, atrophy is seen, due to brain damage sustained by the injury. Images Courtesy Dr. Mark S. Dias

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