Examining Violence Against Women at a Regional Level 1 Trauma Center During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Am Surg
; 88(3): 404-408, 2022 Mar.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1467789
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
There is a growing concern that certain public health restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could result in more violence against women (VAW). We sought to determine if the rates and types of VAW changed during the COVID-19 pandemic at our level 1 trauma center (L1TC).METHODS:
We performed a retrospective review of female patients who presented to our L1TC because of violence from 2019 through 2020. Patients were grouped into a pre-COVID or COVID period. The primary aim of this study was to compare rates of VAW between groups. Secondary aims sought to evaluate for any difference in traumatic mechanism between periods and to determine if a temporal relationship existed between COVID-19 and VAW rates.RESULTS:
There was no difference in rates of VAW between the pre-COVID and COVID period (3.1% vs 3.6%, P = .6); however, rates of penetrating trauma were greater during the COVID period (38.2% vs 10.3%, P = .01). After controlling for patient age and race, the odds of penetrating trauma increased during the pandemic (OR 5.8, 95% CI 1.6-28.5, P < .01). From February 2020 through October 2020, there was a direct relationship between rates of COVID-19 and VAW (r2 .78, P < .01).CONCLUSION:
Rates of VAW were unchanged between the pre-COVID and COVID periods, yet the odds of penetrating VAW were 5 times greater during the pandemic. Moving forward, trauma surgeons must remain vigilant for signs of violence and ensure that support services are available during future crises.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Trauma Centers
/
Wounds, Nonpenetrating
/
Wounds, Penetrating
/
Pandemics
/
Gender-Based Violence
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Am Surg
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
00031348211047467
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