106 Neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation and assault injuries in urban youth

Abstract

Abstract Introduction/Background Youth violence is a major global public health concern. Assault injuries are a major cause of trauma among youth, yet the causes for and medical consequences of assault victimization in this group remain uncertain. Objectives Using data from the third-largest urban area in Canada, we sought to describe the demographic, temporal and geographic influences on the incidence of youth assault injuries. Design/Methods We performed a population-based cross sectional study of Canadian youth aged 10 to 24 years seeking emergency medical care between April 2012 and March 2018 at any of the 16 hospitals in a major Canadian metropolitan area. Injury characteristics were described using graphical and statistical techniques. Neighbourhood material and social deprivation indices were examined as independent predictors of the population incidence of youth assault injury using negative binomial regression and geospatial methods. Results A total of 2,784 assaulted youth sought emergency medical care during the 6-year study interval, corresponding to an incidence rate of 101 youth assault injuries per 100,000 person-years. Assaulted youth were most commonly males between 20 and 24 years of age. Prior diagnoses of substance use and mental health disorders were common. Examination of temporal variation in the incidence of assault injury revealed a 103-fold difference between the riskiest and safest hours of the week (incident rate ratio, 103). The risk of youth assault injury in the most materially deprived quintile of neighbourhoods was more than four-fold greater than that in the wealthiest quintile (incident rate ratio per quintile increase, 1.42; 95%CI [1.27, 1.59]; p <0.001), and the risk of youth assault injury in the most socially deprived quintile of neighbourhoods was more than twelve-fold greater than that in the least deprived quintile (incident rate ratio per quintile increase, 1.88; 95%CI [1.69, 2.11]; p <0.001). Conclusion Assault injuries among youth vary substantially across time and space. Targeted violence prevention interventions might focus on weekend evenings and on socioeconomically deprived neighbourhoods.