Emergency department patients with assault injuries: previous injury and assault convictions

To compare the incidence of previous assault injury and assault conviction of patients presenting to the ED with assault injuries and the incidence of assault injury and conviction in nonassaulted control patients.

We conducted a retrospective, medical record-based case-control study of ED patients with assault injuries and matched controls presenting with medical and surgical problems unrelated to assault. The setting was the ED of a 900-bed teaching hospital and Level I trauma center in an urban area. Our subjects were 50 patients who presented as victims of blunt trauma, 50 patients who presented with penetrating trauma, and 100 control subjects matched by age, sex, and ZIP code who presented concurrently with nonassault complaints.

The overall rate of previous assault injury was 35% and did not differ between cases and controls. Fifty-three patients had a history of criminal conviction, and 23 had a history of conviction for assault. Fewer patients presenting with assault injuries than controls had a history of conviction for assault (odds ratio [OR], .3; P < .02). Patients with penetrating injuries had the lowest incidence of assault conviction (OR, .13; P < .02). The subgroup of case subjects with criminal records had a higher rate of previous injury than those without records (P < .003).

ED patients with assault injuries did not have a history of assault injuries exceeding that of controls and were less likely to have been convicted of assault. Violence-prevention programs should be directed toward a broader population of ED patients instead of narrowly focusing on victims of assault.