Maternal and infant characteristics in abuse: a case control study.

Eighty-six abused children identified by two Children's Aid Societies in Hamilton-Wentworth County, Ontario, were compared with 86 controls born in the same hospital. Three factors were significantly more common in the abused group: (1) low socioeconomic status of the mother, (2) younger age at time of delivery, and (3) indication of a psychosocial problem recorded in the medical chart. The failure to find significant differences between abused children and controls in birthweight, Apgar score, and prematurity contrasts with earlier investigations of infant characteristics and child abuse.