Prevalence of Past Year Assault Among Inner-City Emergency Department Patients (original) (raw)

Objectives: 1) To determine the rates of past year non-partner violent assault (NPV), both victimization and aggression. 2) To assess variables associated with NPV, particularly with regards to substance use. Method: A cross sectional computerized standardized survey study was conducted to assess NPV, physical and mental health, and substance use among patients presenting to an inner-city ED over two years. Patients (age 19-60) with normal vital signs in an urban ED from 9am-11pm were eligible; pregnant patients and those with a chief complaint of psychiatric evaluation were excluded. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict any NPV .Results: 10,744 patients were enrolled (80 % response rate); 14% of the sample reported any past year NPV (9% perpetration; 11% victimization). Findings from regression analyses found participants with any past year NPV (victimization or aggression) were more likely than their counterparts to be younger (OR 1.1), male (2.2), single (1.5), unemployed (1.1), present to the ED for injury (1.9), report poor physical health (1.32) poor mental health (1.9). They were less likely to be African-American (0.8). Alcohol use (1.7), marijuana use (2.4), cocaine use (3.1), prescription drug use (1.4) and past treatment (1.7) were associated with experiencing past year NPV.