Summer 'sees peak in violence'

Staff in casualty departments are "ideally placed" to monitor assault trends

More violence happens in the summer months than at any other time of the year, research suggests.

A survey of data from hospital casualty units points to seasonal trends, with the lowest number of attacks coming in February and April.

The research team from the University Hospital Wales College of Medicine Cardiff also found women are at an increased risk of assault.

The survey covers 121,475 victims of assault who presented at 33 of the 226 accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England and Wales between 1995 and 1998.

A&E departments have an important role in contributing to community safety, measuring the effectiveness of violence prevention initiatives and informing local police strategy

Research paper

Researchers said the increase in attacks during the summer months could be due to an increase in the numbers going out in public, and perhaps drinking.

Incidence rates are at their highest between July and September, and their lowest from February to April.

There is also a smaller peak between November to January.

The survey suggests that men and women aged from 11 to 50 are all at more risk of assault between July to September.

The researchers said previous research had raised the idea that injury from assault is a "seasonal disorder".

"It has been suggested in a single centre study that during the summer months, when larger numbers of people are out of doors, there is greater likelihood of violence," they said.

The number of women who had been assaulted increased, despite the fact that the amount of domestic violence recorded by the British Crime Survey fell.

The researchers wrote: "As British Crime Survey data show a decrease in domestic violence of 16% between 1995 and 1997, it is possible that violence involving women in public places increased."

Their research also points to a significant increase in the number of people aged 31 to 50 who are assaulted.

The statistics show that, as expected, men aged between 18 and 30 made up 45% of those who came to A&E after they had been attacked.

Basis for reducing violence

Lead researcher Dr Vas Sivarajasingam said the research, which is published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, provided the facts on which deductions about why the violence occurred could be based.

He said A&E data could be used, along with the British Crime Survey and police statistics, to give a full picture of violence trends.

It has been suggested in a single centre study that during the summer months, when larger numbers of people are out of doors, there is greater likelihood of violence

Research authors

There was no overall change in the numbers of people attacked over the three years of the study.

The number of people attending A&E who said they had been assaulted rose by 5% over the period of the study, from 39,615 to 41,487.

The researchers add: "A&E departments have an important role in contributing to community safety, measuring the effectiveness of violence prevention initiatives and informing local police strategy.

"Importantly, this study was possible without additional expenditure in the A&E departments."

Dr Sivarajasingam, a lecturer in maxillo-facial surgery, said: "It's pointing us in the right direction to where research should be focussed."

He said more research was now being done to look at why - and where - the attacks were happening.

"The ultimate ambition is to use the A&E data in helping people who make the decisions in measures to reduce violence."