Incidence of Self-Reported Interpersonal Violence Related Physical Injury in Iran

Abstract

Background:Violence is the cause of death for 1.5 million people in a year.Objectives:Our study aimed to estimate the incidence rate of self-reported interpersonal violence related physical injury (VRPI) and its associated factors in Iran.Patients and Methods:The sample included people ranged from 15 to 64 years old who were residing in Iran. A total of 1525 clusters were selected from the whole country. Six families were selected from each cluster via a systematic random sampling method. Then, the residential units were identified and the interviewers contacted the inhabitants. In the next step, one of the family members was selected by using Kish grid method. The instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire and consisted of two sections; demographics and project related data. Face validity and content validity of our questionnaire were investigated based on expert opinions and the reliability was confirmed by a pilot study, as well. The inclusion criteria were considered for choosing the interviewers. An interviewer was assigned for each 42 participants (7 clusters). An educational seminar was held for the administrative managers (54 persons) and interviewers (230 persons) for a week. The field work was distributed among all 46 Medical Sciences universities in Iran. In each university, administrative issues were related to an executive director. Mann-Whitney U test and odds ratio were used to analyze the data with 95% confidence interval. α value was considered less than 5%.Results:The frequency of VRPI among 7886 participants was 24 during the last three months. The incidence rate of interpersonal VRPI was estimated at 3.04 per 1000 population (95% CI: 2.66-3.42) during a three-month interval in Iran. The incidence was 4.72 per 1000 population (95% CI: 4.01-5.43) for males and 1.78 per 1000 population (95% CI: 1.39-2.17) for females during a three-month interval. The mean (SD) of age of the participants with and without a history of VRPI were 26.5 (7.21) and 33.05 (12.05) years, respectively (P = 0.008). Considering the participants’ gender, 66.7% were males (OR = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.14-6.23). Khuzestan Province had the most VRPIs (25% of all VRPIs). Streets and roads were the places with the highest frequency of injury (50%). The most frequent injured organ was the upper limb (54.17%). The most prevalent type of injury was a superficial wound (50%). Finally, the most common place of treatment was home (45.83%).Conclusions:We determined the incidence rate of self-reported interpersonal VRPI for the first time in Iran based on a national survey. The injuries were more common among young men. We suggest consecutive national surveys with different data gathering methods and more sample sizes.

The Trend of Interpersonal Violence Mortality at National and Provincial Levels in Iran From 1990 to 2015

“…A population-based study in Iran reported that the incidence rate of self-reported IPV related to physical injury was about three per 1,000 people during a 3-month interval and was more frequent among males, which is in line with our study (Salamati et al, 2015). Differences in biological features of males and females are described as the reasons for a higher rate of violence among males.…”

Assessment of mechanism, type and severity of injury in multiple trauma patients: A cross sectional study of a trauma center in Iran

“…Injury is now the fifth leading cause of death in the republic of China and at least 800,000 deaths from injuries and 50 million non-fatal injuries occur each year. In Iran, injury is the leading cause of mortality, disability and health care costs in patients aged 1–34 years 8 . In our study, the 10–44 age group consists of 61.5% severely injured patients.…”

“…In Iran, injury is the leading cause of mortality, disability and health care costs in patients aged 1–34 years. 8 In our study, the 10–44 age group consists of 61.5% severely injured patients. Although fatal injuries can be seen in all ages, more than 40% are seen in the 10–24 years age group.…”

“…In developing countries, there are not adequate valid data on violence-related injuries and deaths. 4 Salamati et al 8 estimated the incidence rate of self-reported interpersonal violence-related physical injury at 3.04 per 1000 population in Iran during a three-month population-based cross-sectional study with an incidence rate of 4.72 per 1000 population for males and 1.78 per 1000 population for females in Iran 9 . This difference is probably due to the larger sample size of Salamati's study.…”