Prevalence of sexual abuse among patients seeking general urological care

Sexual abuse (SA) history can be found in the backgrounds of an important fraction of men (8-10%) and women (12-25%). Until now there are no data about this prevalence within a urological patient population.

To establish the prevalence of SA among men and women visiting a urological outpatient clinic and to assess their opinion on screening for SA by urologists.

A questionnaire to identify SA was translated into Dutch, English, and Turkish, and was adjusted for use in men. These questionnaires were anonymously distributed among 1,016 adult patients attending the urological outpatient clinic.

The self-reported prevalence of SA. Secondary outcome measures were data about the assailant, victim's age at the time of the abuse, if the abuse was disclosed to the urologist, if the urologist had asked for SA, and patient opinions on standard screening for SA in urological care.

A total of 878 questionnaires were returned, giving a total response rate of 86.4% (878/1,016). Thirty-three patients refused to participate. This resulted in 845 filled-out questionnaires suited for analysis (845/1,016 = 83.2%). There were more male (75.7%) than female respondents (21.8%); 2.1% (13/624) and 13.0% (21/161) of the male and female respondents reported a history of SA, respectively. Almost 42% reported a stranger as assailant. In nearly 90%, the SA took place before adulthood: 56.2% in childhood and 31.2% in adolescence. Fifteen percent of the respondents with SA had it disclosed to their urologist. More than 70% of the abused respondents considered the idea to screen for SA in urological practice to be a good one.

The prevalence of SA in patients seeking urological care in the Netherlands is 2.1% for men and 13.0% for women.