Physical violence against children and adolescents in Recife: a 5-year retrospective study

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to analyze the prevalence results of physical violence against children and adolescents in a 5-year period in Recife, Brazil. Inter-personal violence is one of the most recognizable forms of child aggression and has become as an imperative public health issue. All violence related forensic reports performed between 2009 and 2013 in the clinical services of the Institute of Legal Medicine Antônio Percivo Cunha were analyzed. Victims were classified according to sex, age, relationship with perpetrator, injuries and year of occurrence. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS (version 22.0). Continuous variables were described and when appropriate, frequencies were displayed and compared. The association between variables was evaluated using chi-square and Fisher's exact test. The margin of error for the statistical tests was 5.0%. A total of 9783 occurrences were evaluated, involving mainly male subjects (n=5447, 55.7%). Victims’ mean age was 13.9 years, the most common perpetrators were victims’ acquaintances (n=2538, 25.9%). Facial injuries were the most frequent affecting a little over a fifth of the total sample (n=3673, 20.1%). These findings support the important role dentists can play in identifying and reporting physical violence against children and adolescents.