Please read below for general SBS/AHT (shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma) statistics or click on the appropriate link in the navigation bar to read the results of the studies that took place in Scotland and in North Carolina, USA.

General SBS/AHT Statistics

Based on a North Carolina research project published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in August of 2003, approximately 1,300 U.S. children experience severe or fatal head trauma from child abuse every year.

The same North Carolina research study revealed that approximately 30 per 100,000 children under age 1 suffered inflicted brain injuries.

Approximately 20% of cases are fatal in the first few days after injury and the majority of the survivors are left with handicaps ranging from mild - learning disorders, behavioral changes - to moderate and severe, such as profound mental and developmental retardation, paralysis, blindness, inability to eat or exist in a permanent vegetative state.

From Child Abuse Medical Diagnosis and Management by Robert Reece, M.D. - "At best estimate, one third of abusive head injury victims who develop symptoms escape without significant handicapping conditions. Many children are left with blindness, seizure disorders, profound mental retardation, spastic diplegia (paralysis of both sides) or quadriplegia (all sides). Some continue to live in a vegetative state."

Medical costs associated with initial and long-term care for children who are victims of SBS/AHT can range from $300,000 to more than $1,000,000.