What distinguishes unintentional injuries from injuries due to intimate partner violence: a study in Greek ambulatory care settings

Abstract

Objectives: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important sociocultural and public health problem. This study aims to assess sociodemographic and injury characteristics of IPV victims among adults in a traditional southern European population. Setting: Accident and emergency departments of three sentinel hospitals in Greece participating in the Emergency Department Injury Surveillance System (EDISS). Methods: Data on sociodemographic variables, as well as event and injury characteristics were retrieved from the EDISS database during the three year period 1996-98. Out of a total of 27 319 injured women aged 19 years or more, 312 (1.1%) were reported as IPV related and were compared with 26 466 women with unintentional injuries. Among the 35 174 men with injuries 39 (0.1%) were reported as IPV related and were compared with 34 049 men with unintentional injuries. The data were analyzed through simple cross tabulations and multiple logistic regression. Positive predicted values for selected injury characteristics were also calculated. Results: IPV is more common in rural than in urban areas of Greece. Women are 10 times more frequently IPV victims but men are also IPV victims; younger women and older men are disproportionately affected by IPV. The relative frequency of the phenomenon increases during the late evening and night hours. Certain types of injuries, notably multiple facial injuries, and presentation of the injured person on his/her own at the emergency department or combinations of predictive characteristics are strongly indicative of IPV. Conclusions: Injuries due to IPV are not uncommon in Greece, not withstanding the traditional structure of the society and the tendency of under-reporting. Certain injury characteristics have high positive predictive values and could be used in screening protocols aiming at the correct identification of the underlying external cause in injuries that may be caused by IPV.

Intimate partner violence against women in Spain: A medico-legal and criminological study

“…As can be seen, the age of women ranged from 16 to 82 years (mean 37 years old, SD 11.9), with 80.8% ranging from 21 to 50 years old, and 62% of them between 21 and 40 years old. These results are in agreement with other previously published data showing that young adult victims are at greater risk for IPV 19,20,26,[35][36][37][38] . A high proportion of victims were married (38.7%), a similar proportion single (34.7%), and a significant number (15.1%) separated or divorced.…”

“…Medical assistance for IPV events mostly occurred at night (n= 109, 38.5% of cases) and in the afternoon (n = 81, 28.6%), especially during weekends (n= 107, 48.5%), which is in accordance with previous data 38,64 . This may be related to social customs including alcohol and drug consumption during the weekends 38,79 . In fact, alcohol or drugs were involved in the incident in 42% of the cases under study, like in other reports 63 .…”

“…This distribution is not the expected because, according to research, areas of the head, neck, and face (HNF) are the most common reported sites of injury, ranging in frequency from 50% to 80% 35,38,63,75,76 . This area has been significantly associated with IPV 70,77,78 , followed by upper extremity injuries, which is consistent with the likelihood of receiving defense injuries.…”

“…These results are similar to previous studies, which demonstrated that having an urban residence increases the likelihood of abuse 17,20 . Nevertheless, other investigations have shown a higher prevalence of IPV in rural areas 38 . Although the information on alcohol/drug abuse was missing in a great proportion of cases (80.4%), it could be determined that at least 10% (n= 58) of victims had a history of alcohol consumption/abuse and 5.6% (n= 33) of illegal drug abuse, which is considered a risk factor but also a consequence of abuse 35,45,46 .…”

“…Greece found that women with multiple injuries were 15 times more likely to present with a history of IPV as the cause of their injuries when compared to women with a single injury 38 .…”