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Characteristics associated with sexual assaults at mass gatherings.

ABSTRACT: Sexual assault is disturbingly common, yet little is known about those occurring at mass gatherings, defined as a group of people congregated for a common purpose. Our objectives were to examine patterns of variation in sexual assault associated with mass gatherings and to determine factors associated with assaults occurring at mass gatherings.We performed a case series analysis from January to December, 2013. We included all patients >16?years presenting within 30?days of their sexual assault to the Ottawa Hospital Sexual Assault and Partner Abuse Care Program (SAPACP). Cases were stratified by whether or not they occurred at mass gatherings. We abstracted from the SAPACP records: patient and sexual assault characteristics, alcohol or drug consumption and medical and forensic care accepted. We performed descriptive analyses and multiple logistical regression to identify factors associated with mass gathering assaults.We found 204 cases of sexual assault, of which 53 (26%) occurred at mass gatherings. Relative frequencies of mass gathering sexual assaults peaked during New Year's Eve, Canada Day, university frosh week and Halloween. We found the following factors were statistically significantly associated with sexual assault at mass gatherings: younger age (OR=0.95, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.99); voluntary consumption of drugs and alcohol (3.88, 95% CI 1.34 to 11.23); assault occurring on a holiday (2.37, 95% CI 1.00 to 5.64) and the assailant unknown to the victim (2.43, 95% CI 1.15 to 5).This study is the first to describe patterns of variation in sexual assault incidents associated with occurrence of mass gatherings as well as factors associated with such assaults. We will disseminate these results to key stakeholders in order to develop prevention-minded policies for future mass gatherings.

SUBMITTER: Sampsel K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4752638 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Characteristics associated with sexual assaults at mass gatherings.

Sampsel Kari K Godbout Justin J Leach Tara T Taljaard Monica M Calder Lisa L

Emergency medicine journal : EMJ 20150827 2

<h4>Introduction</h4>Sexual assault is disturbingly common, yet little is known about those occurring at mass gatherings, defined as a group of people congregated for a common purpose. Our objectives were to examine patterns of variation in sexual assault associated with mass gatherings and to determine factors associated with assaults occurring at mass gatherings.<h4>Methods</h4>We performed a case series analysis from January to December, 2013. We included all patients >16 years presenting wit ...[more]

PMID: 26315648

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Project description:BackgroundMass gathering (MG) events may cause delayed emergency responses via various mechanisms and strain the resources of local emergency services. Therefore, preparedness, including adequate pre-planning and sufficient resourcing during MG events, is vital. The aim of this retrospective register study was to investigate the impact of MG events on the workload of rescue and emergency medical service (EMS) personnel during events to enable more precise and sufficient deployment of these authorities' operative resources.MethodsThe data from Finland covered of 25,124 EMS and rescue service missions during a three-year period (2015-2017), including data from nine MG events and reference material for the same weekdays two weeks before and after the event. The data were analysed through statistical and geospatial analyses.ResultsOur findings showed that missions increased in most events included in this study. Analysis of the missions' reasons showed that the categories of violence, traffic accidents and other accidents and injuries increased during events, with violence-related missions showing the highest relative risk (RR 1.87, 95% CI 1.43-2.44). In the four-grade (A-D) urgency grading, the analysis showed an increase in category C missions and a decrease in non-urgent category D missions. The analysis indicated an increase in missions during the evening and night-time. The geospatial analysis revealed dense hotspots of missions in the vicinity of the event area.ConclusionThe workload for EMS and rescue service personnel increases during MG events. Most of the increase is allocated to EMS staff, peaking in evening and night hours. The geospatial analysis showed hotspots of missions on the outskirts of the actual event area during events; thus, the workload can also increase for those authority resources that are not directly allocated to the event. Detailed information regarding workloads is valuable for the authorities that are responsible for resource planning and preparedness for MG events. Replicating the study internationally would improve the methodology for the future.

Project description:BackgroundMass gathering manifestations attended by large crowds are an increasingly common feature of society. In parallel, an increased number of studies have been conducted that developed and/or validated a model to predict medical usage rates at these manifestations.AimsTo conduct a systematic review to screen, analyse and critically appraise those studies that developed or validated a multivariable statistical model to predict medical usage rates at mass gatherings. To identify those biomedical, psychosocial and environmental predictors that are associated with increased medical usage rates and to summarise the predictive performance of the models.MethodWe searched for relevant prediction modelling studies in six databases. The predictors from multivariable regression models were listed for each medical usage rate outcome (i.e. patient presentation rate (PPR), transfer to hospital rate (TTHR) and the incidence of new injuries). The GRADE methodology (Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation) was used to assess the certainty of evidence.ResultsWe identified 7,036 references and finally included 16 prediction models which were developed (n = 13) or validated (n = 3) in the USA (n = 8), Australia (n = 4), Japan (n = 1), Singapore (n = 1), South Africa (n = 1) and The Netherlands (n = 1), with a combined audience of >48 million people in >1700 mass gatherings. Variables to predict medical usage rates were biomedical (i.e. age, gender, level of competition, training characteristics and type of injury) and environmental predictors (i.e. crowd size, accommodation, weather, free water availability, time of the manifestation and type of the manifestation) (low-certainty evidence). Evidence from 3 studies indicated that using Arbon's or Zeitz' model in other contexts significantly over- or underestimated medical usage rates (from 22% overestimation to 81% underestimation).ConclusionsThis systematic review identified multivariable models with biomedical and environmental predictors for medical usage rates at mass gatherings. Since the overall certainty of the evidence is low and the predictive performance is generally poor, proper development and validation of a context-specific model is recommended.

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Characteristics associated with sexual assaults at mass gatherings.

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Characteristics associated with sexual assaults at mass gatherings.

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