Citation

Nóbrega LM, de Macedo Bernardino Í, Barbosa KG, e Silva JA, de Lima Targino Massoni AC, d'Ávila S. Dent. Traumatol. 2017; 33(3): 181-188.

Affiliation

Department of Dentistry and Public Health, State University of Paraíba, Campina Grande, Brazil.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/edt.12327

PMID

28186694

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIM: Violence against women is a global public health problem. The aim of this study was to characterize the profile of women victims of violence and identify factors associated with maxillofacial injuries. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed based on an evaluation of 884 medico-legal and social records of women victims of physical aggression treated at the Center of Forensic Medicine and Dentistry in Brazil. The variables investigated were related to the socio-demographic characteristics of victims, circumstances of aggressions, and patterns of trauma. Descriptive and multivariate statistics using Decision Tree analysis by the Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector algorithm (CHAID), as well as univariate and multivariate Poisson regression analyses were performed.

RESULTS: The mean age of victims was 29.38 (SD = 12.55 years). Based on Decision Tree, the profile of violence against women can be explained by the aggressor's gender (p < 0.001) and sociodemographic characteristics of victims, such as marital status (p = 0.001), place of residence (p = 0.019), and educational level (p = 0.014). The occurrence of maxillofacial trauma was 46.4%. Based on the final Poisson regression model, women living in suburban areas were more likely to suffer maxillofacial trauma (PR = 1.752; CI 95% = 1.153-2.662; p = 0.009) compared to those living in rural areas. Moreover, aggression using a weapon resulted in a lower occurrence of maxillofacial trauma (PR = 0.476; CI 95% = 0.284-0.799; p = 0.005) compared to cases of aggression using physical force.

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of oral-maxillofacial trauma was high, and the associated factors were place of residence and mechanism of aggression. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

epidemiology; maxillofacial injuries; violence against women