The prevalence of maxillofacial fractures due to domestic violence--a retrospective study in a hospital in Tehran, Iran.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Domestic violence has been identified as a cause of maxillofacial fractures especially among women. The present study investigated the maxillofacial fractures in Tehran, Iran, with special focus on injuries related to domestic violence.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

Records of patients with maxillofacial fractures who were referred to Shariati hospital, Tehran, from June 2004 to June 2006 were considered to extract required data. The extracted data included the patients' gender, age, cause of fracture, and type of fracture. For patients with domestic violence recorded as their fracture cause, complementary data were also recorded. Chi-square test served for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

Totally, the records of 257 patients (188 men, 69 women) were considered. Of the 257 records studied, 188 records (73%) belonged to men. The most common fracture cause was vehicle accidents (55.3%) among both men (52.1%) and women (63.8%). The domestic violence stood for 3.5% of cases (all women). It was the fracture cause among 13% of women. One-third of women with domestic violence as fracture cause had previous history of fracture. The spouses of one-third of domestic violence victims were drug addicted.

CONCLUSION

Prevalence of domestic violence as a cause for maxillofacial fracture is relatively high among women. Because these fractures can be life-threatening, appropriate strategies at both community and family levels should be implemented to prevent and reduce these types of fractures.