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COVID-19 pandemic and violence: rising risks and decreasing urgent care-seeking for sexual assault and domestic violence survivors
Open accessAbstract
Background: There is little information on care-seeking patterns for sexual assault and domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this study was to examine the changes in emergency department (ED) admissions for sexual assault and domestic violence since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. Methods: Observational ED admissions data from The Ottawa Hospital were analyzed from March 4 to May 5 (62 days) in 2020 (COVID-19 period) and compared to the same period in 2018 (pre-COVID-19). Total and mean weekly admissions were calculated for all-cause ED admissions and for sexual and domestic violence cases. A Poisson regression (without offset term) was used to calculate the weekly case count ratio and 95% confidence intervals (CI) between the two time periods. Case characteristics were compared using chi-square tests, and percent differences were calculated. Results: Compared to pre-COVID-19, total ED admissions dropped by 1111.22 cases per week (32.9% reduction), and the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Program cases dropped 4.66 cases per week. The weekly case count ratio for sexual assault cases was 0.47 (95% CI 0.79–0.27), equivalent of 53.49% reduction in cases, and 0.52 (95% CI 0.93–0.29), equivalent to a 48.45% reduction in physical assault cases. The characteristics of presenting cases were similar by age (median 25 years), sex (88.57% female), assault type (57.14% sexual assault, 48.57% physical assault), and location (31.43% patient’s home, 40.00% assailant’s home). There was a significant increase in psychological abuse (11.69% vs 28.57%) and assaults occurring outdoors (5.19% vs 22.86%). Conclusion: This study found a decrease in ED admissions for sexual assault and domestic violence during COVID-19, despite societal conditions that elevate risk of violence. Trends in care-seeking and assault patterns will require ongoing monitoring to inform the provision of optimal support for individuals experiencing violence, particularly as countries begin to re-open or lock-down again.
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“However, the characteristics of patients who presented to the ED for SA/IPV during the pandemic do not differ from those who presented prior to the pandemic.”
From Telemedicine and virtual healthcare for survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence: A qualitative study (2024) · cites this paper as [22]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Muldoon, K. A., Denize, K. M., Talarico, R., Fell, D. B., Sobiesiak, A., Heimerl, M., & Sampsel, K.
- Affiliations
- Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (CA)
- University of Ottawa (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Muldoon, Katherine A.
- Venue
- BMC Medicine
- Published
- 2021-02-05
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 20-20
- ISSN
- 1741-7015 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7861965
- OpenAlex
- W3127440973
- Cited by
- 126
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 43 · 2021: 19
- FWCI
- 14.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- BMC Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- uO Research (University of Ottawa) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- The Ottawa Hospital Academic Medical Organization (TOH-20-005)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Intimate Partner and Family Violence
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › COVID-19 and healthcare impacts
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, sexual assault, domestic violence, care seeking, emergency department admission, violence against women, psychological violence, physical assault
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Adult, Communicable Disease Control, Emergency Service, Hospital, Female, Humans, Male, Ontario, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Sex Offenses, Domestic Violence, Young Adult, Pandemics
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