Intimate partner violence (IPV) - associated ophthalmologic injuries among women : a systematic review / Katherine Marl R. Ferrer and Maria Donna D. Santiago.

Includes appendices and bibliographical referernces.

Abstract: Intimate partner violence (IPV) or interpersonal violence remains to be underreported in the global sense. Philippines is not unique in terms of the experiences of IPV female victims compared to their foreign counterparts. To describe patterns of IPV-associated ophthalmologic injuries among women. A systematic literature search was conducted from 2009 to 2022 of PubMed, Google Scholar, HERDIN, and Cochrane Library for observational studies. Those studies that looked into physical violence resulting to ophthalmologic orbital injuries and elaborated identification and referral practices of women IPV survivors with ophthalmologic orbital injuries were included. This paper excluded conference abstracts, case reports and case series, review articles, practice guidelines, commentaries or editorials. Risk of bias (ROB) assessment was done using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOS). Content analysis was done to synthesize relevant data of all participants based on their demographic profiles and injuries. Summary of themes of all the included articles were also presented. Seven studies including 911 patients were included in this review. Out of all the included patients, 206 (22.62%) of IPV-related facial injuries involved the eyes with or without concurrent injuries involving other parts of the region of the face among female patients. ROB analysis showed three studies with poor and four studies with good ROB assessment. General classification of injuries was based on the affected thirds of the face: upper, middle, and lower. The middle third is still the most affected in the face secondary to IPV including blowout fractures. Left-sided injuries were still more common compared the right-sided injuries. BE AWARE rapid assessment tool was one of the proposed screening tools among the IPV victims. Referral of patients to social work, law enforcement, counseling services, local agencies, psychiatry, psychology, and appropriate task force were identified as part of moral obligation of physicians to IPV victims. Recognition of IPV victims should be paramount among patients presenting facial injuries in the emergency department. This study was able to highlight the different patterns of injuries, factors associated with IPV with ophthalmologic orbital injuries, practices and/or protocols done among female IPV victims.

Research - Department of Ophthalmology