The multi-institutional validation of the new screening index for physical child abuse

The validity of the new SIPCA instrument is supported by its performance in an independently derived data set. A score of 3 on SIPCA represents a balanced trade off in the sensitivity and specificity of the instrument in detecting physical abuse and is an optimal threshold above which to begin considering abuse in differential diagnosis. Application of the instrument could assist clinicians in detecting physical child abuse cases among pediatric trauma patients.