Battered Children, Medical Forensic Aspects: A 20-Year Review from Eastern Hungary (1963-1983)

Child abuse generally takes four forms: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. The number of cases varies over time. The authors of this study present data from a region in eastern Hungary for the 20-year period from 1963 to 1983, during which there was a trend at first toward a higher incidence of cases and then a significant decrease in child abuse. That decline has continued. There is no apparent explanation for this decline. The number of sexually abused children was significant, whereas the number of psychologically abused children was small, when compared to that in other studies. Unlike other cases in the authors’ practice, child abuse occurs infrequently, which makes the use of a specialist necessary in the determination of the diagnosis.