Artificial intelligence (AI) can help better identify prevalence of physical abuse of children seen in the emergency room, a new study found. The research will be presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) 2025 Meeting , held April 24-28 in Honolulu.
Researchers used a machine-learning model to estimate instances of child abuse seen in emergency departments based on diagnostic codes for high-risk injury and physical abuse. The researchers' approach better predicted abuse rates than those that rely solely on diagnostic codes entered by a provider or administrative staff. Relying on abuse codes alone misdiagnosed on average 8.5% of cases.
"Our AI approach offers a clearer look at trends in child abuse, which helps providers more appropriately treat abuse and improve child safety," said Farah Brink, MD, child abuse pediatrician at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and assistant professor at The Ohio State University. "AI-powered tools hold tremendous potential to revolutionize how researchers understand and work with data on sensitive issues, including child abuse."
Researchers studied data from 3,317 injury and abuse-related emergency department visits at seven children's hospitals between February 2021 and December 2022. All children were under the age of 10 and nearly three quarters were under the age of two.
