Analysis of emergency centre recidivism for interpersonal violence in a district-level hospital in Cape Town, South Africa.

Background: Interpersonal violence is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in low- and upper-middle-income countries. It is postulated that a significant portion of these patients have repeated presentations to an already overburdened healthcare system. Data describing the burden of interpersonal violence recidivism are poor.

Objective: To determine and describe the burden of emergency centre recidivism for interpersonal violent injury presenting to Khayelitsha Hospital, Cape Town, over a 2-year period.

Methods: An analysis of a prospectively collected observational database combined with a retrospective chart review was conducted of all trauma patients who presented to Khayelitsha Hospital from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2022. All patients (aged ≥14 years) with ≥2 presentations for interpersonal violence-related injuries were included. Cases were limited to the inclusion of mechanisms of injury attributable to stab wounds, blunt assault, firearm injury and gender-based violence. Recidivist cases were identified by repeat hospital number on the electronic hospital patient system. Repeat cases were manually reviewed for inclusion. Summary statistics are used to describe all variables.

Results: In total, 10 218 interpersonal violence presentations were identified over the study period, and 1 125 (11.0%) were attributed to recidivists (522 patients). The mean (standard deviation) age was 30 (7.7) years, and most were male (n=463, 88.7%). Stab wounds (n=583, 51.8%) and blunt assault injuries (n=456, 40.5%) were the main mechanisms of injury. Repeat presentation occurred within a median of 198 (25th - 75th percentile, 81.5 - 373.9) days. A total of 337 (64.6%) patients presented with higher acuity at one of their subsequent visits.

Conclusion: Recidivist presentations represent a significant proportion of interpersonally violently injured patients, and are likely to be under-documented. Recidivism poses a measurable burden, and further research is needed to facilitate the identification of at-risk individuals, and specific secondary prevention strategies should be developed to prevent or reduce escalating patterns of injury associated with interpersonal violence.