title: Indicators of intimate partner violence: identification in emergency departments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread, but often unidentified, health concern. Understanding distinguishing characteristics of IPV assaults when compared to non-IPV assaults would advance IPV identification in health care settings.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We sought to determine incident-specific factors differentiating these two assault types using Emergency Department (ED) visit data from a unique active surveillance system.
  
  
  METHODS
  New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Injury Surveillance System 2000-2007 data were analyzed to describe a sample of assault-related ED visits. Data analyses were gender specific. Bivariate analyses were conducted to estimate the crude effect of each independent variable on the outcome: IPV-related (vs. non-IPV-related) assaults. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to compare IPV-related to non-IPV-related assaults on incident-specific factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 5514 assault-related ED visits for women, 1530 visits were IPV related; 2040 were non-IPV related. Among 9476 assault-related visits for men, these frequencies were 395 and 2878, respectively. Among women, occurrence in the home (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 12.8), head injury (AOR 1.6), and sexual violence (AOR 0.4) distinguished IPV- from non-IPV-related assaults. Among men, occurrence in the home (AOR 25.9) and alcohol use (AOR 2.0) distinguished IPV- from non-IPV-related assaults.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For both women and men, victims assaulted at home had an elevated risk for IPV. These findings suggest that directed probing for assault incident characteristics - particularly incident location - may be an efficient, effective complement to current IPV screening practices for the busy ED provider. Incident location can be a cue to deepen inquiry about IPV among assault victims.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Yau
authors.forename: Catherine D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Stayton
authors.forename: Leslie L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Davidson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Emergency Department; assault; intimate partner violence; screening and identification