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Previous Volume 341:1892-1898 December 16, 1999 Number 25 Next

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ABSTRACT

Background Domestic violence is the most common cause of nonfatal injury to women in the United States. To identify risk factors for such injuries, we examined the socioeconomic and behavioral characteristics of women who were victims of domestic violence and the men who injured them.

Methods We conducted a case–control study at eight large, university-affiliated emergency departments. The 256 intentionally injured women had acute injuries resulting from a physical assault by a male partner. The 659 controls were women treated for other conditions in the emergency department. Information was collected with a standardized questionnaire; no information was obtained directly from the male partners.

Results The 256 intentionally injured women had a total of 434 contusions and abrasions, 89 lacerations, and 41 fractures and dislocations. In a multivariate analysis, the characteristics of the partners that were most closely associated with an increased risk of inflicting injury as a result of domestic violence were alcohol abuse (adjusted relative risk, 3.6; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.2 to 5.9); drug use (adjusted relative risk, 3.5; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.0 to 6.4); intermittent employment (adjusted relative risk, 3.1; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.1 to 8.8); recent unemployment (adjusted relative risk, 2.7; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.2 to 6.5); having less than a high-school education (adjusted relative risk, 2.5; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.4 to 4.4); and being a former husband, estranged husband, or former boyfriend (adjusted relative risk, 3.5; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.5 to 8.3).

Conclusions Women at greatest risk for injury from domestic violence include those with male partners who abuse alcohol or use drugs, are unemployed or intermittently employed, have less than a high-school education, and are former husbands, estranged husbands, or former boyfriends of the women.

Source Information

From the Department of Emergency Medicine, Olive View–UCLA Medical Center, Sylmar, Calif. (D.N.K.); the Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center, Department of Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles (D.N.K., J.F.K.); the Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles (D.A.); the Division of Emergency Medicine, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas (E.T.); Emergency Medical Services, New York University–Bellevue Hospital, New York (S.S.); the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson (T.T.); the Department of Emergency Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston (J.A.L.); the Department of Emergency Medicine, Truman Medical Center, Kansas City, Mo. (R.M.); and the Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston (E.B.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Anglin at the Department of Emergency Medicine, Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center, Rm. 1011, 1200 N. State St., Los Angeles, CA 90033.

Full Text of this Article

Related Letters:

Domestic Violence
Zalar R. W., Harris R. B., Kyriacou D. N., Anglin D., Minow M.
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N Engl J Med 2000; 342:1450-1453, May 11, 2000. Correspondence

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