Emergency department visits for interpersonal violence injuries in Udine (Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Northern Italy)

Abstract

to describe frequency, characteristics, and consequences of intentional injuries due to interpersonal violence visited at the Emergency Rooms of Udine and Cividale del Friuli (Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, North-Eastern Italy). analysis of the administrative database of the Emergency Department. in the two Emergency Departments of Udine and Cividale del Friuli, serving a 250,000-inhabitant area, all the visits due to injuries from interpersonal violence in the years 2015-2017 were analysed. number of visits because of injuries from interpersonal violence, distribution of demographic characteristics of patients, of characteristics of the events (place of occurrence, mechanism, relation with patient's occupation, involvement of persons known to the victims), of consequences (discharge diagnosis, Emergency Department management times). in three years, 1,741 visits of violence victims were recorded in the Emergency Department of the Udine area; 8.7% of patients were assigned a triage yellow tag and 1.0% a red tag. Almost one third of victims were non-Italian citizens; 14.2% of events were work-related; more than one third occurred in the home; in one third of cases, the aggressor was known to the victim; 96 people were diagnosed with fractures. The average time from start of medical care and Emergency Room discharge ranged from half an hour among white triage tags to more than three hours among yellow tags. More than 100 people experiences more than one violent episode. this is the first description of frequency, characteristics, and health impact of violence in the area of Udine, providing information useful for a targeted prevention. It also highlights the central role of the Emergency Department not only for the registration of the phenomenon, but also for the management of the acute episodes and for the prevention of recurrent events.