RESUMO
Taking into account the prevalence of child abuse in countries with different socioeconomic levels, the authors review this entity through the casuistics in a Bolivian pediatric hospital. Besides confirming unquestionable clinical findings, it was observed that among twenty-seven cases there was a predominance in preschool and school age children, in contrast with previous papers. The finding of three children with burns of various degrees and two cases who died as consequence of child abuse must be emplasized. The authors comment the varying forms of this syndrome according with foregoing Occidental publications, accepting that non-physical forms should require prospective researches in order to define a creditable prevalence and incidence of child abuse in an exposed population.