Sexual Violence and Substance Use Diagnosed in Emergency Department Discharges in Hawaii, 2005–2014

Mary Guo, Bobby Do, Korben Wong, Thomas H. Lee, Deveraux Talagi, Brandon Lum, Nichole Rahberg, Edra Ha and Victoria Y. Fan
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Mary Guo: Pacific Health Analytics Collaborative, Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Bobby Do: Pacific Health Analytics Collaborative, Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Korben Wong: Pacific Health Analytics Collaborative, Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Thomas H. Lee: Pacific Health Analytics Collaborative, Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Deveraux Talagi: Pacific Health Analytics Collaborative, Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Brandon Lum: Pacific Health Analytics Collaborative, Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Nichole Rahberg: Office of Planning, Policy and Program Development, Department of Health, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
Edra Ha: Pacific Health Analytics Collaborative, Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Victoria Y. Fan: Pacific Health Analytics Collaborative, Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 23, 1-9

Abstract: Background: Substance use (SU) and sexual violence (SV) present unique challenges when contextualizing their relationship due to underreporting of SU and SV. Both are significant public health concerns with a large magnitude and expense to the overall U.S. and to the state of Hawaii, which is identified as a high-intensity drug-trafficking area. Since substance users have a higher risk for sexual violence than the general public, this study aims to analyze the proportion and demographics of emergency department (ED) visit individuals reporting sexual violence with or without substance use disorder and examine how the number of ED visits of individuals diagnosed with SV and SU disorder compare to all individuals. Methods: Data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project was used to examine the relationship between SV and SU. The database contained 3.5 million observations for 24 Hawaii hospitals from 2005–2014. The data was summarized in descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were run to assess statistical significance for variables of interest. Results: A greater proportion of individuals reporting sexual violence also reported substance use disorders compared to the general population of individuals. While 8% of all ED visits were related to SU, 17% of ED visits involving SV were also related to SU, demonstrating a statistically significant association between SV and SU. Conclusions: There is a greater need to further understand the complexity of the relationship between substance use and sexual violence. Sexual violence and substance use disorders share a complex relationship; survivors of sexual abuse may develop a substance use disorder, and those who use drugs and alcohol may be at an increased risk for sexual violence. Results from this study demonstrate visits for individuals reporting sexual violence have a greater proportion of substance use disorder than visits for the general population.

Keywords: sexual violence; domestic violence; substance use; emergency medicine; hospital services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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