title: Severe intimate partner violence affecting both young and elderly patients of both sexes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects 25-35 % of women and men in Western countries. Despite the high prevalence of IPV among trauma patients, very little is known about the associated injuries. Most previous studies excluded male victims and IPV is often limited to violence against women. Few reports on IPV among elderly patients exist.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined self-reports of IPV among patients at two major trauma centers of the Helsinki Central Hospital in Finland. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that we would find the most severe injuries among young and middle-aged women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 29 patients with a total of 105 injuries; patients typically presented with multiple injuries. Half of all patients required hospitalization or surgery. Contrary to previous studies, 17 % of our cohort were male, while 17 % of patients were 65 years or older. We found that 40 % of male victims presented with a New Injury Severity Score (NISS) over 15, indicating severe trauma. Two elderly patients presented with an NISS of 27, the highest in our study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IPV leads to severe injury across all age groups among both male and female patients. The injury mechanism should be clearly defined for all trauma patients, keeping IPV in mind as a potential cause despite patient age or gender.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland. elisa.hackenberg@hus.fi.|Department of Surgery, South Karelian Central Hospital, Lappeenranta, Finland. elisa.hackenberg@hus.fi.
authors.forename: E A M
authors.initials: EAM
authors.lastname: Hackenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Abdominal Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sallinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Koljonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Helsinki University Hospital, University of Helsinki , Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Handolin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014193:Trauma Centers; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Age; Emergency room; Gender; Injury; Intimate partner violence; New Injury Severity Score