title: Risk factors associated with legal interventions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Current research regarding injuries caused during interactions between police officers and civilians is conducted intermittently or on a very narrow sample frame which provides very little clinical information about the injuries suffered or the adverse outcomes. The aim of this study is to identify comorbid risk factors and describe acute outcomes of medically treated traumatic injuries occurring as a result of contact with law enforcement personnel.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this retrospective study, patients injured as a result of contact with law enforcement personnel were identified using ICD-9 external cause of injury codes from medical record databases of patients treated in all hospitals and trauma units in Illinois between 2000 and 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 836 cases injured as a result of contact with law enforcement personnel were identified. These patients were more likely to suffer from substance abuse, depression, schizophrenia, and paralytic disorders compared to the reference cases. Persons injured as a result of contact with law enforcement personnel were predominately injured from being man-handled, unarmed blows, firearms or being struck by a blunt object. Although the injury severity did not differ from the comparison group, these patients had longer lengths of hospitalization, a greater proportion of injuries to the back and spine, and a greater proportion required extended care in an intermediate care facility (not a jail) following discharge.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although medical record data do not explain the detailed circumstances of the face-to-face encounters between law enforcement personnel and civilians, the data provide valuable information regarding who may be at risk of injury and the clinical features of injuries that are suffered following a legal intervention. Similar data systems should be considered to augment existing data systems.
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Division at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, 2121 West Taylor Street (M/C 922), Chicago, Illinois, 60612-7260, USA. alfredahollowaybeth@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alfreda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holloway-Beth
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Division at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, 2121 West Taylor Street (M/C 922), Chicago, Illinois, 60612-7260, USA.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Forst
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health and Safety at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lippert
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Division at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, 2121 West Taylor Street (M/C 922), Chicago, Illinois, 60612-7260, USA.
authors.forename: Sherry
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brandt-Rauf
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 West Taylor Street (M/C 923), Chicago, Illinois, 60612-7260, USA.
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Freels
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology and Biostatistics Division at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 West Taylor Street (M/C 923), Chicago, Illinois, 60612-7260, USA.
authors.forename: Lee
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Friedman
keywords: Data linkage; Epidemiology; Hospital discharge; Injury surveillance; Legal intervention injury; Trauma registry; Use of force