Facial Injuries and the Gender Issue: Expressions of Violence in a Metropolitan Region of Northeastern Brazil

Abstract The aims of this investigation were to describe the profile of men and women victims of violence and identify factors associated with the severity of facial trauma. A retrospective study was carried out from 762 records of victims attended at the Institute of Legal Medicine and Dentistry located in a metropolitan region of Northeastern Brazil. The dependent variable was type of facial trauma suffered by victims. Independent variables were the sociodemographic characteristics of victims, characteristics of aggressors and circumstances of violence. Descriptive, bivariate (c2 test) and multivariate statistics were made through logistic regression. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05. The mean age of victims was 29.78 years (SD=13.33). Based on the final regression model, male subjects [odds ratio (OR)=2.22, 95% CI=1.08-4.57, p=0.030], assaulted by other male subjects (OR=4.88; 95% CI=1.12-21.26; p=0.035) through instrument (OR=6.67; 95% CI=2.85-15.60; p<0,001) or mixed aggressions (OR=4.34; 95% CI=1.44-13.02; p=0.009) were more likely to exhibit facial bone fractures or dentoalveolar fractures. The findings highlight that men and women present important victimization differentials in relation to interpersonal violence and facial trauma. Victim’s gender, aggressor’s gender and mechanism of aggression may exert influence on facial trauma patterns.