[Violence against the elderly from the trauma surgery viewpoint]. / Gewalt gegen alte Menschen aus unfallchirurgischer Sicht.

Violent attacks on people are becoming of ever greater importance in accident surgery emergency treatment. Especially in the international literature, much attention is paid to intentional injuries inflicted on children, handicapped people, helpless and elderly people. The present study will focus on the diagnosis and risk factors as well as the consequences of physical abuse and neglect of the elderly. In particular, we should like to draw attention to possible injury patterns which should not be missed during thorough examination in the emergency admission department. In view of the possibly large number of unreported cases, we deliberately dispensed with statistical analysis of our patients treated as emergencies in order not to make light of the problem nor to overestimate its significance.