title: Interpersonal violence in the United Arab Emirates.
abstract: We aimed to study the anatomical distribution, severity and outcome of hospitalised interpersonal violence-related injured patients in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates so as to give recommendations regarding the magnitude of this problem, its causes and priorities of prevention. Data were retrieved from Al-Ain Hospital Trauma Registry, which was prospectively collected over three years. There were 75 patients (males = 85.3%) having a mean age of 30 years. Eighty-one percent had blunt trauma. The estimated annual injury hospitalisation of interpersonal violence in Al-Ain city was 6.7 per 100,000 population. Females were significantly more injured by a family member (p = 0.02), at home (p = 0.005), and had more severe injuries (p = 0.003). There was a trend for children less than 18 years old to have more penetrating trauma (p = 0.06) and to be injured by a family member (p = 0.09). There was only one case of woman sexual assault and two cases of child abuse. The mean (SD) hospital stay was 7.87 (14.1) days. Less than 3% (n = 2) were admitted to the intensive care unit with no deaths. In conclusion, the majority of patients in our study had minor injuries. Nevertheless, the psychological impact may be major. This highlights the need to develop suitable mental health services in support of victims of interpersonal violence.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences , United Arab Emirates University , Al-Ain , United Arab Emirates.
authors.forename: Ossama T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Osman
authors.forename: Alaa K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.forename: Hani O
authors.initials: HO
authors.lastname: Eid
authors.forename: Mohamed O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.forename: Fikri M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Abu-Zidan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011902:Rape / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014479:United Arab Emirates / Q000453:epidemiology; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: United Arab Emirates; injury; interpersonal; trauma; violence