Interpersonal violence and violent re‐injury in the Northern Territory

OBJECTIVES: To analyse incidence of prior emergency department presentations for interpersonal violence and demographics for a series of hospital admissions for interpersonal violence injuries. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of trauma registry. SETTING: A tertiary hospital and primary referral centre for trauma in the Top End of the Northern Territory. PARTICIPANTS: Patients hospitalised from 2010 to 2015 for injuries due to interpersonal violence with an injury severity score > 9. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patient demographics, injury location, assault mechanism, alleged perpetrator, time/day of event, alcohol involvement, clinical outcome and prior emergency department presentations for interpersonal violence. RESULTS: A total of 248 admissions for patients with Injury Severity Score > 9 due to interpersonal violence were identified. Indigenous females over-represented non-Indigenous females (35.4% vs 5.0%, P < .001). The majority of victims had evidence of alcohol intake at presentation. Victims of single-punch head injuries were mostly male and non-Indigenous, whilst Indigenous persons experienced significantly more blunt and penetrating weapon injuries (66.7% and 68.1%). Forty-three per cent of patients had a preceding emergency department presentation for interpersonal violence; female gender, Indigenous ethnicity, evidence of alcohol intake, and urban location of injury were independent risk factors for prior interpersonal violence presentation. CONCLUSIONS: Interpersonal violence is a recurring disease for a just under half of those presenting to a Top End hospital with moderate to severe injuries. Indigenous ethnicity, female gender and evidence of alcohol intake are predictive of prior interpersonal violence presentations. Patient under-reporting and incomplete data may underestimate the true prevalence of interpersonal violence presentations in rural and remote locales.