This phenotype identifies child maltreatment in children aged 0 to 18 years. It encompasses neglect, physical, sexual maltreatment and other maltreatment. Codes for historical cases of neglect have also been included.

ICD-10 definition

This definition has been reviewed by a clinician in the study team (Prof Ann John) and published (John et. al.,2023).

Read code definition

This definition contains codes for genital mutilation and child protection codes. It has been reviewed by a clinician in the study team (Prof Ann John) and published (John et. al.,2023).

SNOMED CT definition

This definition was developed by mapping the existing ICD-10 and Read code definitions and running complementary SNOMED searches. It also provides a separate concept for historical codes ("History if Child Maltreatment") which may or may not be considered depending on the research question.

Note: The SNOMED CT definition has not undergone validation yet.

References

John, A., McGregor, J., Marchant, A., DelPozo-Baños, M., Farr, I., Nurmatov, U., ... & Naughton, A. (2023). An external validation of coding for childhood maltreatment in routinely collected primary and secondary care data. Scientific reports, 13(1), 8138.

This code lists has been externally validated against a clinical database of clinician confirmed hospital presenting maltreatment as the gold standard (John et al., in press). Our codes lists were developed from existing literature (e.g. Chandan et al., 2020; Chandan et al., 2019; Syed et al., 2022; Woodman et al., 2012), conducting our own searches for codes that may indicate maltreatment, risk or cause for concern; and finally based upon clinician judgement. This list is more comprehensive than those previously published, encompassing codes for genital mutilation and child protection codes (child protection codes in read codes only).

In keeping with previous research, we tiered our code list into those strongly indicating maltreatment (current list), and those codes that may indicate possible or suspected maltreatment or potential vulnerability (See Possible Child Maltreatment) (Chandan et al., 2019; Syed et al., 2022).

References

Chandan, J. S., Gokhale, K. M., Bradbury-Jones, C., Nirantharakumar, K., Bandyopadhyay, S., & Taylor, J. (2020). Exploration of trends in the incidence and prevalence of childhood maltreatment and domestic abuse recording in UK primary care: a retrospective cohort study using the health improvement network database. BMJ Open, 10(6), e036949.

Chandan, J. S., Thomas, T., Gokhale, K. M., Bandyopadhyay, S., Taylor, J., & Nirantharakumar, K. (2019). The burden of mental ill health associated with childhood maltreatment in the UK, using The Health Improvement Network database: a population-based retrospective cohort study. Lancet Psychiatry, 6(11), 926-934.

John, A., McGregor, J., Marchant, A., DelPozo-Baños, M., Farr, I., Nurmatov, U., ... & Naughton, A. (2023). An external validation of coding for childhood maltreatment in routinely collected primary and secondary care data. Scientific reports, 13(1), 8138.

Syed, S., Gonzalez-Izquierdo, A., Allister, J., Feder, G., Li, L., & Gilbert, R. (2022). Identifying adverse childhood experiences with electronic health records of linked mothers and children in England: a multistage development and validation study. The Lancet Digital Health.

Woodman, J., Freemantle, N., Allister, J., de Lusignan, S., Gilbert, R., & Petersen, I. (2012). Variation in recorded child maltreatment concerns in UK primary care records: a cohort study using The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database. PLoS One, 7(11), e49808.