• Yasemin Kılıç Öztürk, Erhan Düzenli, Cem Karaali, and Faruk Öztürk.
• Department of Family Medicine, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, İzmir-Turkey. dryko38@gmail.com.
• Ulus Travma Acil Cer. 2017 Jan 1; 23 (1): 56-60.

BackgroundPhysical violence is defined as deliberate use of physical force likely to result in trauma, bodily injury, pain, or impairment. Present study is pioneering effort to evaluate mechanisms and sociodemographic features of physical violence targeting the elderly in Turkey and to investigate preventive measures.MethodsDatabase records and forensic reports were analyzed in this retrospective study of 54 elderly patients with trauma as result of physical violence who were admitted to emergency department of Şanlıurfa Training and Research Hospital between January 2012 and July 2013.ResultsOf the 54 patients evaluated, 50 (92.4%) were male. History of experiencing previous violence was described by 55.6% (n=30) of the patients. Instances of repeat violence and firearm injuries most often occurred in the home (p=0.006, p=0.007). Need for surgical treatment was also greater among cases that occurred in the home (p=0.016).ConclusionFirearm injury, recurrent violence, and surgical treatment rates were higher among cases that occurred in the home. Urgent preventive measures are especially needed for the elderly who have already been victims of physical violence.

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