Maxillofacial Trauma Resulting from Physical Violence against Older Adults: A 4-year Study in a Brazilian Forensic Service

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of maxillofacial trauma resulting from physical violence against older adults, describe patterns and identify factors associated with its occurrence. Material and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted from the assessment of 7,132 reports of victims of violence who sought a Brazilian Service of Forensic Medicine and Dentistry, during the period from January 2008 to December 2011. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's chi-test square test and Poisson's univariate and multivariate regression (with robust variance) were performed using SPSS software version 20.0. The significance level was set at p <0.05. Results: A total of 259 older adults suffered physical violence. The occurrence of maxillofacial trauma was observed in 42.9% of the sample. Lesions in soft tissue (90.1%) affecting more than one region of the face (40.4%) were the most frequent. The prevalence of maxillofacial trauma was more frequent among individuals older than 66 years (PR = 1.166; 95% CI = 0.865- 1.572), males (PR = 1.119; 95% CI = 0.807-1.550), victims of violence occurred within the community (PR = 1.431; 95% CI = 0.951- 2.153), during the night shift (PR = 1.226; 95% CI = 0.911-1.651) and weekends (PR = 1.279; 95% CI = 0.955-1.714) performed without using blunt instrument (PR = 1.311; 95% CI = 0.932-1.846). Conclusion: The prevalence of maxillofacial trauma resulting from physical violence against older adults was high and soft tissue lesions affecting more than one face region were predominant.