Abstract
Studies have evaluated the prevalence of domestic violence in populations of patients in emergency and primary care settings, but there are little data on patients admitted to hospitals. We undertook a study to evaluate the prevalence of domestic violence among female inpatients. Of 131 consecutive female patients between the ages of 18 and 60 admitted to a nontrauma urban teaching hospital asked to complete a self-administered survey about domestic violence, 101 completed the questionnaire. Twenty-six percent of the respondents reported being in an abusive relationship at one time. Two patients felt that domestic violence contributed to their current reason for admission. No respondents were asked about domestic violence by health care providers. Domestic violence is an uncommon but important precipitant to nontrauma hospital admissions. Physicians should query all female inpatients about domestic assault.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Bachman R, Saltzman L. National Crime Victimization Survey, violence against women: estimates from the redesigned survey. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics; 1995. Report NCJ-1543438.
Alpert EJ. Violence in intimate relationships and the practicing internist: new disease or new agenda? Ann Intern Med. 1995;123:774–81.
Abbott J, Johnson R, Koziol-McLain J, Lowenstein SR. Domestic violence against women. Incidence and prevalence in an emergency department population. JAMA. 1995;273:1763–7.
Goldberg WG, Tomlanovich MC. Domestic violence victims in the emergency department. JAMA. 1984;251:3259–64.
McLeer SV, Anwar RAH. A study of battered women in an emergency department. Am J Public Health. 1989;79:65–6.
Bullock L, McFarlane J, Bateman LH, Miller V. The prevalence and characteristics of battered women in a primary care setting. Nurse Pract. 1989;14:47–56.
Gin NE, Rucker L, Frayne S, Cygan R, Hubbell FA. Prevalence of domestic violence among patients in three ambulatory care internal medicine clinics. J Gen Intern Med. 1991;6:317–22.
Freund KM, Bak SM, Blackhall LJ. Identifying domestic violence in primary care practice. J Gen Intern Med. 1996;11:44–6.
Gazmararian JA, Lazorick S, Spitz AM, et al. Prevalence of violence against pregnant women. JAMA. 1996;275:1915–20.
Bergman B, Brismar B. Suicide attempts by battered wives. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1991;83:380–4.
Pillemer K, Finkelhor D. The prevalence of elder abuse: a random sample survey. Gerontologist. 1988;28:51–7.
Feldhaus KM, Koziol-McLain J, Amsbury HL, et al. Accuracy of 3 brief screening questions for detecting partner violence in the emergency department. JAMA. 1997;277:1357–61.
Koss MP, Koss PG, Woodruff WJ. Deleterious effects of criminal victimization on women’s health and medical utilization. Arch Intern Med. 1991;151:342–8.
Sugg NK, Inui R. Primary care physicians’ response to domestic violence. Opening Pandora’s box. JAMA. 1992;267:3157–9.
Hyman A, Schillinger D, Lo B. Laws mandating reporting of domestic violence. JAMA. 1995;273:1781–7.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
McKenzie, K.C., Burns, R.B., McCarthy, E.P. et al. Prevalence of domestic violence in an inpatient female population. J GEN INTERN MED 13, 277–279 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.1998.00081.x
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1525-1497.1998.00081.x