Physical Health Consequences of Sexual Assault Victims
Seree Teerapong MD*, Pisake Lumbiganon MD, MS**, Sompop Limpongsanurak MD, MPH***, Venus Udomprasertgul MS***
Affiliation : * Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Police General Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand ** Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand *** Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Objective : To describe health consequences of sexual assault victims attending Police General Hospital,
Thailand
Results : Descriptive study with prospective data collection
Results : Police General Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand
Results : Sexual assault victims attending Police General Hospital between October 1, 2004 and September
30, 2005 were recruited. All subjects were actual sexual assault cases and came to Police General Hospital
within 14 days.
Material and Method: Each recruited victim was interviewed, physically and forensic medically examined,
and screened for sexual transmitted infections (STIs) at first visit, two-week follow-up visit, and three-month
follow-up visits. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including 95% confidence intervals.
Results : There were 377 victims. One of them was male and excluded from the analysis. Most victims were
single, 68.8% aged 10-19 years. Non-genital injuries were reported in 32.4% (95% CI, 27.7%, 37.5%) of the
victims and 91.0% of these injuries were mild. Only one patient was admitted in the hospital. Genital injuries
were found in 43.4% (95% CI, 38.4%, 48.4%) of the victims. At the first visit, 2.9% (95% CI, 0.9%, 4.9%) and
1.1% (95% CI, -0.1%, 2.3%) were infected by N. gonorrhea and Trichomonas vaginalis respectively. At the
2-week follow-up visit, 3.0% (95% CI, 0.7%, 5.3%) and 1.5% (95% CI, -0.2%, 3.2%) were infected by N.
gonorrhea and Trichomonas vaginalis respectively. The incidence of pregnancy resulted from sexual assault
was 1.7% (95% CI, 0.1%, 3.3%).
Conclusion : Most sexual assault victims were teenagers. All physical injuries were of mild to moderate degree.
Prevalence of STIs and incidence of pregnancy after sexual assault were very low.
Keywords : Crime victims, Genitalia, female, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexually transmitted diseases, Wounds and injuries
