Summa Health System, Department of Psychiatry, Akron, OH, USA.
The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Psychology, University Park, PA, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2022 Sep;37(17-18):NP15255-NP15274. doi: 10.1177/08862605211016362. Epub 2021 May 15.
The present study aimed to explore the prevalence of subconcussive head trauma, traumatic brain injury (TBI), potential hypoxic events, and hypoxic brain injury (HBI) in victims of physical intimate partner violence (IPV). The study also aimed to characterize the injury presentation and mechanisms of injury in this population.
A group of 47 female participants with a history of at least one relationship that included physical violence completed a structured interview assessing for subconcussive hits, TBI, and HBI. Participants ranged in age from 19 to 55, and had an average of 15.3 years of education. Forty-four participants completed the structured interview in person and three participants completed the interview over the phone.
The majority of participants reported sustaining at least one impact to the head and approximately half of the participants sustained at least one impact that resulted in a mild TBI. Approximately half of the participants experienced at least one incident of having difficulty breathing due to a violent act from their partner, and approximately one-third of participants reported symptoms consistent with mild HBI. The most common mechanisms of injury were being hit with a closed fist and being strangled.
The high levels of head trauma observed in this study highlight the need for clinical and community providers to screen victims of physical IPV for head trauma. The unique characteristics of this population (female sex, high frequency of injuries, and presence of HBIs) indicate that research evaluating the cognitive effects of injuries in this population is needed.
本研究旨在探讨身体亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）受害者中亚颅脑外伤、创伤性脑损伤（TBI）、潜在缺氧事件和缺氧性脑损伤（HBI）的发生率，并描述该人群的损伤表现和损伤机制。
一组 47 名有至少一段包含身体暴力关系史的女性参与者完成了一项结构访谈，评估亚颅脑外伤、TBI 和 HBI。参与者年龄从 19 岁到 55 岁不等，平均受教育年限为 15.3 年。44 名参与者亲自完成了结构访谈，3 名参与者通过电话完成了访谈。
大多数参与者报告至少遭受过一次头部撞击，大约一半的参与者遭受过至少一次导致轻度 TBI 的撞击。大约一半的参与者因伴侣的暴力行为而出现呼吸困难的情况，大约三分之一的参与者报告有符合轻度 HBI 的症状。最常见的损伤机制是被拳头击打和被勒颈。
本研究中观察到的高比例头部外伤突显了临床和社区提供者需要对身体 IPV 的受害者进行头部外伤筛查的必要性。该人群的独特特征（女性、高频率的损伤和 HBI 的存在）表明需要进行研究来评估该人群中损伤的认知影响。
