Urban black children have unique exposures, outside of poverty, which increase their risk for child physical abuse hospitalization, a recent study found. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white children aged <5 years living in all US counties. US counties were classified as central metro, fringe/small metro, and rural. Incidence rates were calculated using child physical abuse hospitalization counts from the 2012 Kids' Inpatient Database and population statistics from the 2012 American Community Survey. Researchers found:

• 3,082 child physical abuse hospitalizations occurring among 18.2 million children were identified.
• When stratified by race/ethnicity, crude child physical abuse hospitalization rates decreased among black children 29.1% and increased among white children 25.6% from central metro to rural counties.
• After adjusting for poverty, only rates among black children continued to vary significantly, decreasing 34.8% from central metro to rural counties.
• Rates were disproportionately higher among black children compared with white children and their disproportionality increased with population density, even after poverty adjustment.
• Rates among Hispanic children were disproportionately lower compared with white children in nearly all urban-rural categories.