The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on treatment for domestic violence injuries: evidence from medical claims

Abstract

Abstract Previous studies have observed heterogeneous changes in domestic violence-related 911 calls, police incident reports, and arrests at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we use a large-scale medical claims database with coverage of over 100 million patients to examine the impact on domestic violence victims’ use of emergency department care for their injuries in the early weeks of the pandemic compared to the corresponding weeks in previous years. We find a 35% decrease in utilization of emergency medical services by domestic violence victims between March and June of 2020. Based on this finding, it is essential to use caution when using medical claims to measure domestic violence in future research covering this time period. Decreases in care utilization also have important implications for the detection, screening, and treatment of domestic violence injuries during future public health crises.