There is a link between unemployment and the number of infants who suffer abusive head trauma such as shaken baby syndrome, according to a new study published in the latest edition of Pediatrics.

The study included 422 children across three regions who suffered abusive head trauma sometime from January 2004 to June 2009. The number of children under 5-years-old who suffered such trauma jumped roughly six percent at the start of the recession.

"A lot of us around the county were noticing that back in 2008 when the recession hit, it seemed like we were seeing a whole lot more kids with sustained abuse of head injury," said Dr. Kenneth Feldman, a research and pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital.

Feldman said that increased stress over the loss of a job could hurt a caretaker's ability to deal with the difficulty of raising a child.

"Anything that lowers the caretaker's threshold to be able to tolerate the crying is going to increase the risk that they might act rashly and do something that might hurt the infant."

Brandi Kruse, 97.3 KIRO FM

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