Lupariello Francesco, Tattoli Lucia, Mattioda Giuliana, Lauria Barbara, Aguzzi Sonia, Racalbuto Sara Simona, Castagno Emanuele, Bondone Claudia
Department of Public Health and Paediatrics, Section of Legal Medicine, University of Turin, Corso Galileo Galilei 22 - 10126, Turin, Italy.
Legal Medicine Unit of the Azienda Sanitaria Locale Torino 4 (ASLTO4), via Po 11, Chivasso, 10034, TO, Italy.
Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2025 Mar;21(1):165-172. doi: 10.1007/s12024-024-00890-9. Epub 2024 Aug 30.
Violence against children (VAC) is a global issue due to its biological, psychological, and social effects. Research in this field is valuable for understanding unknown aspects of VAC and for defining updated intervention strategies. Until now, there have been no clear indications about the possible effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on VAC. In this study, the authors compared quantitative and qualitative variables of pre-pandemic and pandemic cases evaluated at an Italian center specialized in VAC. The aims were to determine if the cases referred for VAC changed during the pandemic and if there were statistically significant differences in variables' distributions between pre-pandemic and pandemic periods. The referrals during the first 13 months of the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic were compared to cases referred over 13 months (2018-2019) to the same center. The analysis showed no statistical differences between age distributions and most qualitative variables. A decrease in the number of cases was observed. The comparison of frequency distributions of most variables between pre and post-pandemic samples did not differ. The most important result of the analysis is that the volume of observed VAC cases decreased during the pandemic period, confirming the indications of the scientific literature. It could not be excluded that the decrease was due to the negative impact of the pandemic on the child protection system. The above data could help develop innovative prevention tools and corrective intervention programs for future emergencies.
暴力侵害儿童行为（VAC）因其对生物、心理和社会的影响而成为一个全球性问题。该领域的研究对于了解暴力侵害儿童行为的未知方面以及确定最新的干预策略具有重要价值。到目前为止，尚无明确迹象表明2019冠状病毒病大流行对暴力侵害儿童行为可能产生的影响。在本研究中，作者比较了在意大利一家专门处理暴力侵害儿童行为的中心评估的大流行前和大流行期间病例的定量和定性变量。目的是确定在大流行期间转介的暴力侵害儿童行为病例是否发生了变化，以及在大流行前和大流行期间变量分布是否存在统计学上的显著差异。将2020年2019冠状病毒病大流行前13个月的转介病例与同一中心在13个月（2018 - 2019年）期间转介的病例进行比较。分析显示年龄分布和大多数定性变量之间没有统计学差异。观察到病例数量有所减少。大流行前和大流行后样本中大多数变量的频率分布比较没有差异。分析的最重要结果是，在大流行期间观察到的暴力侵害儿童行为病例数量有所减少，这证实了科学文献中的迹象。不能排除这种减少是由于大流行对儿童保护系统的负面影响。上述数据有助于开发创新的预防工具和针对未来紧急情况的纠正性干预计划。
