Quantitative analysis of injury characteristics in victims of interpersonal violence: an emergency department perspective.

ABSTRACT

Violence runs into the fabric of society. In recent years, violence has been identified as an important health problem in industrialised societies. In the present study, conducted to analyze injury characteristics, 813 victims of interpersonal violence presenting to emergency department at a Government Medical College and Hospital from a major city in Central India were interviewed and examined over a period of one year. Central to the quantitative analysis of the data collected was the extraction of specific injury characteristics from the sample population. The group included 606 men and 207 females, most of them were resident of urban areas, aged between 11 and 30 years. Most of attacks occurred at nights, with minimal seasonal variation. Males were more commonly attacked outdoors by a single stranger male while females were mostly attacked indoors by spouse. Blunt trauma was more commonly seen in females as compared to males. Head neck and face region was the most preferred anatomical site by the assailants. Hard and blunt weapons were used more commonly at homes (184 of 269 incidents) than at streets (301 of 561 incidents). Sharp edged and pointed weapons were most commonly used at streets. Firearms were rarely used. Occurrence of physical assaults in this region more or less follows the pattern seen in other parts of the world with local and socio-cultural differences that need to be further delved into and considered during the planning and implementation of injury prevention programs.