A new Massachusetts study, published in Radiology, has found a significant increase in the severity of domestic violence injuries or physical intimate partner violence (IPV) during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic compared with the figures three years ago.
Principal investigator Dr. Bharti Khurana said, “Our study showed a higher incidence of physical IPV, both in absolute numbers and proportion, with more severe injuries despite fewer patients reporting IPV.”
Dr. Khurana is the director of the Trauma Imaging Research and Innovation Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
She said, “This indicates that victims are reporting to health care facilities in the late stages of the abuse cycle. Fear of contracting infection and closure of ambulatory sites might be preventing victims of mild physical or emotional abuse from seeking help compared to the pre-pandemic era.”
The study authors noted that although social distancing has helped at controlling the spread of the virus, it had some negative socioeconomic and psychological impacts.
In addition, there has been a higher incidence of alcohol or substance abuse and mental health disorders.
Dr. Khurana and her colleagues looked at the incidence, pattern, and severity of IPV injuries at Brigham and Women’s Hospital during the pandemic. They also looked at clinical presentation and radiological findings of patients who reported domestic violence from March 11 to May 3.
The investigators discovered that the incidence of physical IPV was nearly 2 times greater during the pandemic compared with the same period over the past three years.
It was also found that the total number of deep injuries related to internal organs was 28 during the pandemic, while it was 16 between 2017 and 2019.
The incidence of strangulation injuries, stab injuries, knife injuries, gun injuries, and burns, which inflict deep tissue injuries, was two times greater this year.
The study discovered that patients with physical IPV during the pandemic were more likely to be white.
Dr. Babina Gosangi of Yale New Haven Health in New Haven, Connecticut, said, “During the pandemic, victims experienced more injuries to the chest and abdomen compared to prior years.”
Dr. Gosangi, who is a former emergency radiology fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, added, “For instance, one victim sustained multiple bilateral rib fractures with right pneumothorax and bilateral lung contusions — requiring hospital admission for more than 10 days — after she was repeatedly punched in the chest. Another victim was stabbed in the abdomen and had lacerations to the liver and kidney.”
The researchers noted that helping IPV victims during the pandemic is challenging because medical providers are busy handling COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Khurana explained, “As health care providers, we are missing opportunities to identify victims early in the cycle during the pandemic. There is under-reporting by the victims, accentuated due to fear of seeking care due to COVID-19.” “At the same time, IPV-related injuries may be getting overlooked or misinterpreted, as our frontline physicians are overwhelmed by a vast number of COVID-19 patients in the Emergency Department,” she added.
