Anales del Congreso ALAP
Anales del X Congreso ALAP

TITLE: The Female Burden of Injury and Trauma in Public Hospitals in Mexico

OBJECTIVE
Globally, 1 in 3 women experience gender-based violence (GBV) during their lifetime, with most cases unreported.1,2 Few studies have examined the burden of GBV in women and pregnant people presenting to emergency departments (EDs) in Mexico. We aim to describe the burden of injuries among females who present to public EDs in Mexico.

METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional study of females presenting to EDs in public hospitals in Mexico in 2019 using the “Lesiones” subdataset from Cubos Dinámicos3. Continuous data are presented as medians with IQR; categorical data are presented as percentages. We performed a test to compare injury patterns amongst pregnant and non-pregnant females.

RESULTS
Women and girls accounted for 73% (n=492,035) of injuries presenting to public ED’s in Mexico. The median age was 28 years (IQR 17-44). 70% (n=347,201) of cases occurred at home; 18% (n=90,087) were repeat attendances. Cases most commonly presented within Guanajuato (21%), Mexico (15%), and Mexico City (7%). The most common modes of injury reported were falls (22%), affecting lower (15%) and upper (14%) extremities. 33% of injuries involved domestic violence (n= 162,101); in 20% of cases, the aggressor was an intimate partner (boyfriend, partner, or husband). Amongst women of reproductive age, 8% (n=25,313) were pregnant or in the puerperium (up to 42 days postnatal). Pregnant women were more likely to present with injuries due to domestic violence than non-pregnant women (p=0.01). The most common mechanisms of injury among pregnant women were blows with hands or feet (2355, 9.3%) and falls involving facial injury (1064, 4.2%).

CONCLUSIONS
GBV is exceedingly common among women and pregnant people presenting to EDs in Mexico. Further investigation is required to understand the impact of GBV on pregnancy outcomes and clinical sequelae of survivors following presentation.