Original researchPregnancy-associated assault hospitalizations1 ☆,
Section snippets
Materials and methods
The study examined the hypothesis that the hospitalization rate for assault is higher among pregnant women than all women of reproductive age (ages 15–49), once controlled for age, race, and severity. Secondary aims included quantifying the prevalence of hospitalized assaults in a large population-based sample of pregnant women and comparing and contrasting the patterns of assault injury mechanisms, severity, demographics, and costs. This study was given expedited review and approved by the
Results
E-coding was 92% complete among women 15–49 years with an injury-related diagnosis. This left 137,887 resident women aged 15–49 discharged from nonrehabilitation hospitals with an acute injury diagnosis and a valid mechanism/intent E-code. There were 7402 assault-related discharges for a rate of 21 per 100,000 person-years. Pregnancy-associated cases made up 10.0% (745/7402) of all assaults to women aged 15–49.
Among injured females 15–49 years with a pregnancy-associated diagnosis, 14%
Discussion
This is the first study to address the prevalence and risk of pregnancy-associated hospitalized assaults in a large multistate population. Most other studies of assault and pregnancy have focused on small clinic or urban populations, often overrepresented by socially disadvantaged minorities. Because most severe injuries will be seen in hospitals, regardless of race and social class, this study provides more representative findings of the risk patterns for serious assaults among women of
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2011, JOGNN - Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal NursingInjury: A Major Cause of Pregnancy-Associated Morbidity in Massachusetts
2008, Journal of Midwifery and Women's HealthCitation Excerpt :Because our methodology was able to identify the pregnancy period from its onset, we were able to achieve better case finding in the antenatal period than previous studies in which PAIs were identified by the presence of both injury and pregnancy ICD-9-CM codes on hospital visit data. Although studies using this previous method have hypothesized an underestimation of injuries early in pregnancy,17,21 we found that the underestimation occurs during the entire pregnancy. The linked file enabled us to follow women throughout the pregnancy-associated period and identify a subset of women at risk for more than one injury visit.
Intimate Partner Violence
2007, Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :It is important for clinicians to include women seeking pregnancy termination in this high-risk population because 22% of women seeking pregnancy termination report a history of abuse in the preceding 12 months and 24% to 35% report a history of substantial conflict and fights with the man involved with the current pregnancy [32–34]. Of all the assault-related injuries reported for women of reproductive age, 10% occurred during pregnancy and women who are assaulted during pregnancy are three times more likely to be hospitalized as compared with women who are assaulted and not pregnant [36]. Women who are pregnant are three times more likely to be a victim of an attempted or successful femicide as compared with abused nonpregnant controls [37].
Injury and pregnancy loss [4]
2005, Journal of the American College of SurgeonsIdentifying and Interpreting Domestic Violence in Archaeological Human Remains: A Critical Review of the Evidence
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This project was supported under award number 1998-WT-VX-0016 from the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice. Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the US Department of Justice.
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This work was based in part on methods pioneered by Jesse Greenblatt, Andrew Dannenberg, and Christopher Johnson. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Karen Zuri in coordinating the state data requests.