Exacerbation of Physical Intimate Partner Violence during COVID-19 Lockdown

BACKGROUND: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global social and public health problem but published literature regarding the exacerbation of physical IPV during the COVID-19 pandemic is lacking. PURPOSE: To assess the incidence, patterns, and severity of injuries in victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, compared with the prior three years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The demographics, clinical presentation, injuries, and radiological findings of patients reporting physical abuse arising from IPV during the statewide COVID-19 pandemic between March 11th and May 3rd, 2020 were compared with the same period over the past three years. Pearson’s chi-squared and Fischer’s exact have been used for analysis. RESULTS: 26 physical IPV victims from 2020 (37+/-13 years, 25 women) were evaluated and compared with 42 physical IPV victims (41+/-15 years, 40 women) from 2017-2019. While the overall number of patients reporting IPV decreased during the pandemic, the incidence of physical IPV was 1.8 times greater (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1 to 3.0, p = 0.01). The total number of deep injuries was 28 during 2020 versus 16 from 2017-2019; the number of deep injuries per victim was 1.1 during 2020 compared with 0.4 from 2017-2019 (p<0.001). The incidence of high-risk abuse defined by mechanism was greater by 2 times (95% CI 1.2 to 4.7, p = 0.01). Patients with IPV in during the COVID-19 pandemic were more likely to be ethnically white, 17 (65%) victims in 2020 were ethnically white compared to 11 (26%) in the prior years (p=0.007). CONCLUSION: There was a higher incidence and severity of physical intimate partner violence (IPV) during the COVID 19 pandemic compared with the prior three years. These results suggest that IPV victims delayed reaching out to health care services until the late stages of the abuse cycle during the COVID-19 pandemic.