Physical violence against children and adolescents in Recife: a 5-year retrospective study

The aim of the present study was to analyze the prevalence results of physical violence against children and adolescents (PVCA) in a 5-year-period in Recife, Brazil. It is related to interpersonal violence and this is the most recognizable form of child aggression became as an important and urgent public health issue. We’ve analyzed all violence-concerned forensic reports between 2009 and 2013 in the clinical services of the Institute of Legal Medicine Antonio Percivo Cunha. Victims were classified according to sex, age, relationship with perpetrator, traumatic consequences of the event and year of occurrence. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS (version 22.0). A total of 12420 occurrences were evaluated. Continuous variables were described, and when appropriated frequencies were displayed and compared. The association between variables was evaluated using chi-square and Fisher's exact test. The margin of error for the statistical tests was 5.0%. Most subjects were male and mean victims age was 13 years.