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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2006.091116v1 97/12/2246    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Lipsky, S. Articles by Caetano, R. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lipsky, S. Articles by Caetano, R. Related Collections Access to Care Injury/Emergency Care/Violence African Americans/Blacks Hispanics/Latinos Surveys Alcohol Drugs Women's Health

Sherry Lipsky, PhD, MPH and Raul Caetano, MD, PhD, MPH

At the time of the study, Sherry Lipsky was with the School of Public Health, University of Texas, Dallas Regional Campus, Dallas. Raul Caetano is with the School of Public Health, University of Texas, Dallas Regional Campus, Dallas.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Sherry Lipsky, University of Washington at Harborview Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Box 359911, 325 9th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104 (e-mail: lipsky{at}u.washington.edu).

Objectives. We examined the relationship between intimate partner violence victimization among women in the general population and emergency department use. We sought to discern whether race/ethnicity moderates this relationship and to explore these relationships in race/ethnic–specific models.

Methods. We used data on non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, and His-panic married or cohabiting women from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using logistic regression.

Results. Women who reported intimate partner violence victimization were 1.5 times more likely than were nonvictims to use the emergency department, after we accounted for race/ethnicity and substance use. In race/ethnic–specific analyses, only Hispanic victims were more likely than their nonvictim counterparts to use the emergency department (AOR = 3.68; 95% CI = 1.89, 7.18), whereas substance use factors varied among groups.

Conclusions. Our findings suggest that the emergency department is an opportune setting to screen for intimate partner violence victimization, especially among Hispanic women. Future research should focus on why Hispanic victims are more likely to use the emergency department compared with nonvictims, with regard to socioeconomic and cultural determinants of health care utilization.