Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37932707›Full record

ArticleBMC public health2023

Urgent care-seeking and injury severity for intimate partner violence during COVID-19: a Canadian retrospective chart review.

Alison N Ross, Emma Duchesne, Jane Lewis, Patrick A Norman, Susan A Bartels, Melanie Walker, Nicole Rocca

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Alison N RossFaculty of Health Sciences (School of Medicine), Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada. aross@qmed.ca.ORCID 0000-0001-5083-3201
Emma DuchesneDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Jane LewisSexual Assault & Domestic Violence Program, Kingston Health Sciences Centre, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Patrick A NormanKingston General Health Research Institute, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Susan A BartelsFaculty of Health Sciences (School of Medicine), Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Melanie WalkerFaculty of Health Sciences (School of Medicine), Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Nicole RoccaFaculty of Health Sciences (School of Medicine), Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Queen's University · CAKingston Health Sciences Centre · CA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEarly reports raised alarms that intimate partner violence (IPV) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but initial studies showed that visits to emergency departments (EDs) decreased. This study assessed the impact of the prolonged pandemic and its associated restrictions on both rates of urgent care-seeking and injury severity for IPV.

methodsData from the Kingston Health Sciences Centre's (KHSC) ED were utilized to compare IPV presentations during 'Pre-COVID' (December 17, 2018 - March 16, 2020) and 'COVID' (March 17, 2020 - June 16, 2021), as well as three periods of heightened local restrictions: 'Lockdown-1' (March 17 - June 12, 2020), 'Lockdown-2' (December 26, 2020 - February 10, 2021) and 'Lockdown-3' (April 8 - June 2, 2021). The primary outcomes were incidence rate of IPV visits and injury severity, which was assessed using the Clinical Injury Extent Score (CIES) and Injury Severity Score (ISS).

resultsA total of 128 individuals were included. This sample had mean age of 34 years, was comprised of mostly women (97%), and represented a variety of intimate relationship types. Some individuals presented multiple times, resulting in a total of 139 acute IPV presentations. The frequency of IPV visits during COVID was similar to the Pre-COVID time period (67 vs. 72; p = 0.67). Incidence rate was 13% higher during COVID, though this difference was non-significant (6.66 vs. 5.90; p = 0.47). IPV visit frequency varied across lockdown periods (11 in Lockdown-1, 12 in Lockdown-2 and 6 in Lockdown-3), with the highest incidence rate during Lockdown-2 (12.71). There were more moderate and severe injuries during COVID compared to Pre-COVID, but mean CIES was not statistically significantly different (1.91 vs. 1.69; p = 0.29), nor was mean ISS (11.88 vs. 12.52; p = 0.73).

conclusionsDuring the 15-months following the start of COVID-19, there were small, but non-significant increases in both incidence rate and severity of IPV presentations to the KHSC ED. This may reflect escalation of violence as pandemic restrictions persisted and requires further investigation.

Indexed as

COVID-19Intimate Partner ViolenceAdultAmbulatory CareCanadaCommunicable Disease ControlFemaleHumansMalePandemicsRetrospective StudiesCOVID-19 pandemicDomestic violenceEmergency departmentForensic medicineInjuriesIntimate partner violenceSexual assaultTrauma

Identifiers

PMID37932707
PMCPMC10626712
OpenAlexW4388421986

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.