The challenges associated with determining causes of fatal child maltreatment have been documented by multiple professional fields and by the US government. This study explored these challenges, as well as the relative lethality of determinations of general neglect, medical neglect and physical abuse. Existing sources of information were used for this study: (1) data from the US National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) data set extracted from annual Child Maltreatment reports published by the US Department of Health and Human Services; and (2) information published in recent state‐level child death review team (CDRT) reports. Results from the NCANDS data set indicated that more children died from general neglect (x̅ = 70.9%) than abuse (x̅ = 44.8%) or medical neglect (x̅ = 8.2%). Children who experienced medical neglect died at the highest rate (6.82 per 1000 medical neglect victims), making it the most lethal, followed by physical abuse and general neglect. The findings from CDRT reports were inconsistent, with some states indicating that more children died from abuse than neglect, which is in direct contrast to national statistics. The inconsistent and confusing use of language and constructs from CDRTs has important implications for multiple child‐serving fields.

中文翻译：

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确定虐待儿童死亡人数方面的挑战：我们真正了解什么？

多个专业领域和美国政府已证明与确定致命的儿童虐待原因相关的挑战。这项研究探讨了这些挑战，以及普遍忽视，医疗忽视和身体虐待所造成的相对致命性。现有的信息来源用于这项研究：（1）来自美国国家儿童虐待和忽视数据系统（NCANDS）数据集的数据摘自美国卫生与公共服务部发布的年度儿童虐待报告。（2）在最近的州级儿童死亡评估小组（CDRT）报告中发布的信息。NCANDS数据集的结果表明，死于一般性疏忽的儿童（x̅ = 70.9％）多于虐待（x̅= 44.8％）或医学上的疏忽（x̅ = 8.2％）。经历过医疗疏忽的儿童死亡率最高（每千名医疗疏忽受害者中有6.82例），是最致命的，其次是身体虐待和普遍疏忽。CDRT报告中的发现不一致，一些州指出死于虐待的儿童多于忽视，这与国家统计数据形成直接对比。来自CDRT的语言和构造的不一致和混乱的使用对于多个儿童服务领域具有重要意义。