[Incidence of injuries resulting from physical violence in Reykjavik 1974-1991]

The purpose of this study was to research the incidence of injuries in Reykjavik among those who had been the victims of physical violence. The study examined the computer data on all injury cases resulting from physical violence among legal residents of Reykjavik, the capital area, who were treated at the Emergency Department (ED) of the Reykjavik City Hospital, University of Iceland, from the time period 1974-1991. Data for the year 1991 were analysed with respect to where and when the violence took place. The age-adjusted incidence for injury following physical violence varied with the time period. It increased from 17.3 per thousand per year for men and 7.2 for women in 1974-1976 to 19.3 and 8.4 respectively in 1977-1979. In the period 1980-1982 there was a 30% drop in such cases for both sexes. Since that time there has been a significant increase, such that the incidence for injury following physical violence in 1989-1991 was 19.8 for men and 7.0 for women. The incidence of injury following physical violence was highest among males and females in the age group 15-19 year or 46 and 15, respectively. The incidence of those hospitalized after physical violence doubled from 0.54 to 1.10 for men and from 0.20 to 0.42 for women during the study period. About half (males 53%, females 43%) of those suffering injury resulting from physical violence sought help at the ED on Saturdays or Sundays: among the women 41% had been victims of physical violence in the home, whereas for the men violent aggression was most common in places of entertainment (25%) or outdoors (33%).