[Differences in incidence of (violent) traumatic events in the national registration systems, population surveys and studies from family practice; a review of literature].

OBJECT: Comparison of (cumulative) incidences of traumatic events from population surveys and registration systems as well as from studies in general practice.

DESIGN

Literature study.

METHOD: Literature searches were done about the frequencies of accidents, sudden death, physical and sexual abuse listed in electronic databases and relevant catalogs covering 1986-1998, after which more references were searched via the references found, going back to 1984.

RESULTS

There were large discrepancies between frequencies found in the several studies, such as national registration systems (n = 4), surveys in the open population (n = 10) and studies in general practice (n = 4). The incidence (per 1000 persons per year) of physical abuse were 66, 2.7 and 1-3 for surveys in the open population, police and general practitioners' registration systems respectively. For sexual abuse the figures were 21, 0.025 and 0.2-2.9 respectively. Different definitions and methods were used in the studies.

CONCLUSION

General practitioners are aware of only a fraction of what their patients experience.