Physical assault related injuries in Western Nepal - A hospital based retrospective study

Objective: The study was carried out to study the pattern of injuries and epidemiological factors in Nepal where there is no systematic surveillance system for injuries. Design: A hospital based, retrospective study conducted by extracting data from the medico-legal register of the Emergency Department of a Regional Hospital for 3 years. Setting: Regional Hospital in Pokhara, Western Nepal. Results: A total of 1100 cases of physical assault had been reported. Male to female ratio was 3.6:1 and most commonly involved age group in males was 16-25 and in females was 26-35 years. Contusion (28.7%) was the commonest type of injury followed by incised wounds (25.7%). Most commonly used weapon was wooden stick and clubs (21.5%) followed by kicks and punches (20.6%). The most frequently affected anatomical site involved was the head and neck (57.06%), followed by the upper limbs (17.74%) and the lower limbs (10.5%). Assailants for females were most commonly spouse (40%) and in-laws (14%) and for males it was unspecified known individuals (18%) followed by neighbours (11%). Maximum number of physical assault injuries occurred between evening and midnight (59.59%). Conclusion: Injuries from physical assault occurred in all age groups but most commonly affecting the young males and majority of them were in the productive age group. Commonest type of injury was contusion and weapon used wooden sticks and clubs. Assailants were spouses in females and known but unspecified individuals in men.