Genitoanal injury in adult female victims of sexual assault

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the presence and extFent of genitoanal injury among sexually assaulted women and to estimate the risk of injury in subgroups according to the type of assault and to the sexually assaulted women's susceptibility to injury. STUDY DESIGN: A case-control study of 249 women exposed to sexual assault. Injury identified by gross visualization. Women with and without injury were compared. Logistic regressions analyses were performed to calculate the risk of injury. RESULTS: Thirty-two percent sustained genitoanal injury. Anal penetration and assaults on women without prior sexual experience were associated with genitoanal injury. CONCLUSIONS: Most women do not have visible genitoanal injuries. The risk of sustaining genitoanal injury during a sexual assault is higher among women without prior sexual intercourse experience and among women exposed to anal penetration. The severity of the assault is a poor predictor of genitoanal injury.