Table 2:

Characteristics of injuries in physical elder abuse victims with visible injuries vs. matched unintentional fallers with visible injuries presenting to an urban, academic emergency department

	Physical Elder Abuse Cases (n=78) %	Unintentional Fall Controls (n=78) %	Difference % (95% CI)	P value
Injury Severity Score (ISS), median (IQR)	1 (1 – 2)	2 (1 – 3)	0 (0, 1.0)	0.06
Time between injury and evaluation				0.06
<1 day	92%	83%	9% (−3, 21)
1–2 days	6%	12%	5% (−16, 5)
>2 days	0%	5%	5% (−11, 1)
Unknown	1%	0%	1% (−2, 5)
Number of injuries, median (IQR)	2 (1 – 5)	3	0.0 (−2.0, 1.8)	0.59
	Range: 1 – 18	Range 1 – 10
Injury Type(s), frequency (95% CI)
Bruise	78%	54%	24% (8, 41)	0.003
Abrasion	32%	46%	−14% (−31, 3)	0.08
Laceration	32%	23%	9% (−5, 23)	0.16
Fracture	8%	22%	−14% (−26, −2)	0.02
Skin tear	3%	8%	−5% (−12, 2)	0.10
Other	17%	30%	−13% (−27, 1)	0.05
Multiple injury types	47%	59%	−12% (−29, 6)	0.18
Body region(s) injured
Maxillofacial / dental / neck	67%	28%	38% (22, 55)	<0.001
Upper extremity	40%	59%	−19% (−35, −3)	0.01
Skull / brain	22%	13%	9% (−4, 22)	0.14
Chest / abdomen / back	19%	4%	15% (4, 27)	0.005
Lower extremity	9%	41%	−32% (−45, −19)	<0.001
Pelvis / buttocks	1%	6%	−5% (−12, 2)	0.10
Multiple body regions injured	44%	41%	−3% (−14, 19)	0.74

Cases and controls were matched by age (5 year intervals), sex, and whether they lived in the community or institution.

ISS denotes injury severity score; IQR, interquartile range.