Factors Associated With Violence Against Women and Facial Trauma of a Representative Sample of the Brazilian Population: Results of a Retrospective Study

Abstract

Study design: Violence against women is a challenge in public health. It involves women of all ages, socioeconomic statuses, cultures, and religions.

Objective: The objective of this study was to perform an epidemiological survey of facial trauma among women who experienced physical aggression by an intimate partner.

Methods: Electronic medical records from a public tertiary referral hospital for trauma in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo were analyzed between 2013 and 2018.

Results: Patients were most commonly between 20 and 29 years of age (33.9%), and 50% of the patients were of mixed race. When separated by days of the week, facial trauma was most commonly inflicted on Sundays (24.2%) and on Saturdays (22.6%). Of the 62 women included in the study, 47 had facial fractures, and 7 had more than 1 concomitant fracture. Forty of the total fractures (72.7%) were on the middle and upper thirds of the face, while 15 fractures (27.3%) were on the lower third of the face. The most commonly observed signs and symptoms of these injuries were edema (56.5%), periorbital ecchymosis (35.5%), deviated nasal dorsum (22.6%), and hematoma (16.1%).

Conclusions: Facial trauma may be considered an important marker of attempted femicide. Health care professionals must be aware of and attentive to this correlation, since many cases of attempted femicide go unnoticed or are attributed to another etiology.

Keywords: ethnic violence; facial trauma; violence against women.

Figure 1.

Etiology of facial trauma. *Eighty percent of the aggressions the women’s partner or the past partner was the responsible.

Figure 2.

Frequency of trauma experienced by female victims of physical aggression as organized by day of the week, month, and year.

Figure 3.

Pattern of facial fracture considering the energy: A and B, coronal and axial section—the etiology was fall: medium energy, zygomatic and nasal fracture. C and D, coronal and axial section—the etiology was physical aggression, isolated nasal fracture.