The epidemiology of blunt facial trauma and intimate partner violence.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
What can the epidemiology of blunt facial trauma teach us about how Intimate Partner Violence present to the Emergency Department?
IRAS ID
218883
Contact name
Marion Campbell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Lanarkshire
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 7 days
Research summary
Victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) have described a number of barriers to reporting this violence to healthcare practitioners. This suggests that victims who have been injured by a partner give an alternative explanation for how the injury has occurred. Blunt maxillofacial injuries in women have previously been identified as being highly suggestive of IPV. Thus, studying the epidemiology of facial injuries may offer insight into the amount of unidentified IPV presenting to Emergency Departments.
The findings of international epidemiological studies of facial injuries are highly variable. Most though not all, report higher rates among men. Violence accounts for 16 to 70% of cases and falls account for 11 to 46% of cases. However, most studies examine patients who have referred to maxillofacial services. Since most blunt facial trauma is managed wholly within the Emergency Department (ED), this technique undoubtedly creates huge selection bias. Only one study using data derived from 163 EDs has been conducted in the UK (in 1998). Its findings were that 68% of maxilla-facial trauma victims were male, and that 40%, 24% and 21% of injuries were caused by falls, assaults and sports injuries respectively. 21% of all injuries were alcohol-related. However, the authors did not analyse the findings according to gender, they collected data for only one week and the findings are weakened surprisingly low patient numbers in certain EDs. Furthermore, changes in patterns of drinking since 1998 in addition to changes in recreational activities, population demographics and use of emergency departments suggest that these results may be somewhat different today.
This research aims to answer two questions: -
What are the epidemiological trends of facial trauma?
Can we infer anything from the trends about the presentation of IPV?REC name
West of Scotland REC 4
REC reference
16/WS/0251
Date of REC Opinion
20 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion