Do skull fractures frequently occur in child abuse?
The second most common type of fracture that occurs in child abuse cases are skull fractures. No fracture type is 100% diagnostic of child abuse. The injury must be evaluated within the context of the child’s developmental stage, the physical injury and reported mechanism of injury. Complicated skull fractures and skull fractures that cross the midline are more likely the result of child abuse than simple skull fractures that correlate with witnessed mechanism of injury.
