Analysis of assault-related injury visits to emergency departments

Violence is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and preventing assault-related injuries is a priority in public health and clinical medicine.

A study led by investigators at the Brigham and Women's Hospital examined variations in month and day of the week of injuries that led to Emergency Department visits nationally. Over 13 years, there were more than 21 million injury visits due to assault. Assault-related visits peaked on late Saturday or early Sunday. Visits peaked in the spring and winter for interpersonal violence.

"We aimed to fill in a gap in our knowledge about assault patterns by using a nationally representative dataset of ED visits for assaults across the entire country," said corresponding author Bharti Khurana, MD, of the Department of Radiology. "We hope that these findings will help to inform resource planning for management and prevention strategies."

The study is published in Chronobiology International