Peer-reviewed article
Physical violence against children and adolescents in Recife: a 5-year retrospective study.
Humberto Gomes Vidal, Inês Morais Caldas, Arnaldo de França Caldas Júnior, Luiz Gutenberg Toledo de Miranda Coelho, Eliane Helena Alvim de Souza et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study analyzed 9,783 forensic reports of physical violence against children and adolescents in Recife, Brazil between 2009 and 2013. Most victims were male with a mean age of 13.9 years, and violence was commonly perpetrated by acquaintances. Facial injuries were the most frequent type of injury recorded, affecting about one-fifth of victims. The study highlights the potential role healthcare professionals, particularly dentists, can play in identifying and reporting child violence.
Key points
- 55.7% of victims were male (n=5,447 out of 9,783 cases)
- Mean age of victims was 13.9 years
- Acquaintances were the most common perpetrators at 25.9% of cases
- Facial injuries were the most frequent injury type, affecting 20.1% of the sample
- Dentists and healthcare professionals are positioned to identify and report physical violence against children
Limitations
This is a retrospective analysis of forensic reports, which only captures cases that reached legal medicine services and does not represent the full prevalence of physical violence against children in Recife. The study does not evaluate any intervention or provide information about outcomes, prevention strategies, or factors that might reduce violence.
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.