Prevalence and factors associated with recurrent violence in a southeastern Brazilian state: Cross-sectional study

Abstract

Violence is a serious public health problem and its repetitive character points to a chronic phenomenon and its insertion in the daily lives of victims. To identify the frequency of repeat violence reported in adults in a Brazilian state and its association with the characteristics of the victim, the aggressor, and the aggression. This is an epidemiological cross-sectional study conducted with data from the notifications of violence recorded in the Notifiable Diseases Information System in Espírito Santo, Brazil from 2011 to 2018. Bivariate analysis was performed using Pearson Chi-Squared test and the multivariate Poisson regression, using a widely used hierarchical model, with the victim’s characteristics in the first level and the aggressor’s characteristics and the occurrence in the second level. In the multivariate analysis, the variables that obtained P < .2 in the bivariate analysis were included in the model, keeping those with P < .05. Data were expressed by prevalence ratio (PR), with confidence intervals of 95%. During the period, 9933 cases of violence were registered in the adult population, referring to 1061 notifications of male adults and 8872 notifications of female adults. The prevalence of repeat violence was 56.7% (95% CI: 56.0 − 57.5). It was more prevalent among women (PR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.63 − 1.83), in the age groups over 40 years (PR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.08 − 1.16), black and mixed-race (P: 1.04; 95% CI: 1.01 − 1.07), and with a partner (P: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.05 − 1.12). Victims with disabilities or disorders suffered 34% more from this problem (95% CI: 1.29 − 1.38) and lived in urban or peri-urban areas (PR: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.10 − 1.23). As for the aggressors, they were under 25 years of age (PR: 1.06; 95% CI: 1.02 − 1.11), of both sexes (PR: 1.32; 95% CI: 1.06 − 1.64), and were the victim’s intimate partner (PR: 3.91; 95% CI: 3.25 − 4.71). The aggressions had only 1 perpetrator (PR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.07 − 1.28) and occurred in the residence (PR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.26 − 1.41). Repeat violence showed high frequency among notifications and was associated with characteristics of the victim, aggressor, and event. The results point to a phenomenon present in the daily life of communities that is potentially capable of negatively impacting the different areas of the subjects lives. Studies on the subject are important to understand the phenomenon and implement strategic actions to confront it.