A predictive model to identify women with injuries related to intimate partner violence.
OBJECTIVE
The diagnosis of intimate partner violence (IPV) is challenging. The authors conducted a cross-sectional study to develop a predictive model to identify IPV-related injuries and validate the model with an independent sample.


METHODS
The authors enrolled women older than 18 years seeking treatment for injuries. They randomized the sample into index and validation datasets. They used the index dataset to develop a predictive model; the validation set served as an independent sample for assessing the predictive model's goodness of fit. Study variables included risk of self-report of an IPV-related injury and demographic and socioeconomic variables. The outcome variable was self-reported injury etiology (IPV or other). The authors used multiple logistic regression techniques to develop a predictive model that they then applied to the validation dataset, and they measured goodness of fit with the Hosmer-Lemeshow test.


RESULTS
The sample was randomized into index (n = 201) and validation (n = 104) sets. For the index set, age, race and risk of IPV were associated with IPV-related injuries (P < .01). The accuracy of the model was 92 percent. Application of the model to the validation dataset resulted in excellent agreement between the observed and actual number of women with IPV-related injuries (accuracy: 93 percent). No statistically significant differences existed between the observed and predicted outcomes (P = .64).


CONCLUSIONS
A predictive model composed of age, race and risk of experiencing IPV accurately characterizes women likely to report IPV-related injuries.


CONCLUSIONS
Once the clinician diagnoses IPV-related injury, he or she can intervene to prevent future IPV-related injuries.
Halpern
Leslie R
LR
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114, USA. lhalpern1@partners.org
Dodson
Thomas B
TB
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000367:Age Factors; D001213:Asian; D018585:Battered Women; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012747:Sexual Partners; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis*; D044465:White People