Abstract
Background
Violence is a leading cause of injury and death among adolescents. Reports indicate
increasing incidence of violent injuries among adolescent females, but have not described
characteristics of or charting completeness for these assault victims in the emergency
department (ED).
Objectives
To compare demographic and injury-related characteristics of assaulted urban adolescent
females and males presenting to an ED; and to compare completeness of hospital coding
for intentionality of females’ and males’ injuries.
Methods
Retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of potentially violent injuries (identified
by E-codes and chart review) among urban youth presenting to a city’s only level I
trauma center. Demographics, injury characteristics, and chart- vs. hospital-determined
intentionality were described with proportions and relative risks.
Results
E-code search resulted in 828 charts with injury diagnoses; 385 were determined by
chart review to represent violent injuries (150 females, 235 males). Female victims
had similar race, age, and socioeconomic status to males. Females’ injuries were more
likely to be documented as caused by a single person, by someone known to them, and
at home. Females were less likely to be injured by weapons or in a public space. Females’
charts were more likely to contain information about the circumstances of injury.
Intentionality was equally likely to be miscoded for females and males.
Conclusions
Adolescent female victims of community violence presenting to an urban ED have different
assault characteristics from males. Females’ charts have less missing information.
A high percentage of all charts have assault intentionality miscoded, suggesting that
E-code-based violence surveillance in this population may not be accurate.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 03, 2011
Accepted:
March 20,
2011
Received in revised form:
September 16,
2010
Received:
May 25,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
