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Severe intimate partner violence affecting both young and elderly patients of both sexes

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European Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects 25–35 % of women and men in Western countries. Despite the high prevalence of IPV among trauma patients, very little is known about the associated injuries. Most previous studies excluded male victims and IPV is often limited to violence against women. Few reports on IPV among elderly patients exist.

Methods

We examined self-reports of IPV among patients at two major trauma centers of the Helsinki Central Hospital in Finland. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that we would find the most severe injuries among young and middle-aged women.

Results

We identified 29 patients with a total of 105 injuries; patients typically presented with multiple injuries. Half of all patients required hospitalization or surgery. Contrary to previous studies, 17 % of our cohort were male, while 17 % of patients were 65 years or older. We found that 40 % of male victims presented with a New Injury Severity Score (NISS) over 15, indicating severe trauma. Two elderly patients presented with an NISS of 27, the highest in our study.

Conclusions

IPV leads to severe injury across all age groups among both male and female patients. The injury mechanism should be clearly defined for all trauma patients, keeping IPV in mind as a potential cause despite patient age or gender.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland

    E.A.M Hackenberg & L. Handolin

  2. Department of Surgery, South Karelian Central Hospital, Lappeenranta, Finland

    E.A.M Hackenberg

  3. Department of Abdominal Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    V. Sallinen

  4. Department of Plastic Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    V. Koljonen

Authors
  1. E.A.M Hackenberg
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  2. V. Sallinen
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  3. V. Koljonen
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  4. L. Handolin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to E.A.M Hackenberg.

Ethics declarations

The specific national laws were observed and an approval by an ethics committee was not required as the patients were not contacted and their treatment was not affected by the study.

Conflict of interest

Elisa Hackenberg, Ville Sallinen, Virve Koljonen and Lauri Handolin declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Hackenberg, E., Sallinen, V., Koljonen, V. et al. Severe intimate partner violence affecting both young and elderly patients of both sexes. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg 43, 319–327 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00068-016-0646-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00068-016-0646-9

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