Evaluation of Violence Against Women: A Retrospective Study

Background: In this study, it was aimed to evaluate adult female cases admitted to the forensic medi-cine clinic and reported for violence against women. Materials and Methods: All female cases over the age of 18 years for whom a forensic report was issued in the forensic medicine clinic between 01.01.2011 and 31.12.2020 due to violence against women were included in the study. Groups were compared with parametric and non-parametric tests. A “p” value above 0.05 was accepted for statistical significance. Results: The mean age of the patients was 35.26±14.43 years; 56.9% (n:281) of the cases were mar-ried. Most of the cases (n:136, 31.6%) were exposed to violence by their spouses and 43.1% (n:213) were exposed to violence by intimate partners. The overwhelming proportion of the cases (93.9%) were exposed to blunt trauma and 40.9% of the cases (n:225) had multiple injuries. Only 2.2% (n:11) of the cases were reported as life-threatening. The mean injury severity score (ISS) was 1.16±0.54 and the mean new-injury severity score (NISS) was 2.26±3.26 in 444 patients with traumatic lesions. ISS and NISS scores were markedly higher in women who were exposed to violence by their intimate partners (p<0.01). Males with sharps or gunshot wounds had statistically higher ISS and NISS scores than those with blunt trauma (p<0.001). Conclusions: We believe that violence against women can be reduced by ensuring legal regulations against domestic violence, educating women about their rights in the face of violence and what to do for protection before and after violence, and increasing and supporting spouse therapy between spouses.