Open Access Emergency Medicine (Jul 2024)

An Observational Study of Sexual Assaults in French Guiana During 2019–2020

  • Menseau V,
  • Charbonnier J,
  • Franchi A,
  • Ouar S,
  • Hamiche K,
  • Pujo J,
  • Kallel H,
  • Nacher M,
  • Fremery A

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 16
pp. 183 – 190

Abstract

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Victoire Menseau,1 Jeanne Charbonnier,1 Angélique Franchi,2 Sihem Ouar,2 Karim Hamiche,2 Jean Pujo,1,3 Hatem Kallel,3,4 Mathieu Nacher,3,5 Alexis Fremery1,3 1Emergency Department, Cayenne General Hospital, French Guiana, France; 2Forensic Medicine Department, Cayenne General Hospital, French Guiana, France; 3Faculty of Medicine, French Guiana University, French Guiana, France; 4Intensive Care Unit, Cayenne General Hospital, French Guiana, France; 5CIC INSERM1424, Cayenne General Hospital, French Guiana, FranceCorrespondence: Alexis Fremery, Email [email protected]: Sexual violence is a major public health issue, including in French Guiana. The feeling of insecurity is significant in this part of France. Sexual violence is an important reason for consultation in forensic and emergency medicine. The challenge is to provide care within the first 72 hours, particularly in medicolegal terms and for infectious disease management. The objectives of our study were, firstly, to establish the epidemiology of sexual assaults at Cayenne General Hospital (CGH), and secondly, to evaluate the management of these victims.Materials and Methods: From January 1st, 2019 to December 31st, 2020, we conducted a single-center retrospective descriptive study including patients who were consulted for sexual assaults in the Forensic medicine and the Emergency departments of CGH.Results: Over this period, 400 sexual assault victims were consulted. Most of them, were women (87%) with a median age of 13 years-old [8; 17.5]. The aggressor was mostly male (99%) frequently known by the victim (87%) and from her family (39%). Suspected assaults represented 19% of consultations. The most frequent assault on women was penile-vaginal penetration (82%) and penile-anal penetration (77%) on men. The delay of consultation was superior to 72 hours in 60% of the cases. A psychological follow-up was recommended for 62% of these victims.Conclusion: This work allowed to identify a young and female population at risk, most often assaulted by a male known to her. Most of the patients consulted more than 72 hours after the assault. Our study highlights the need for prevention actions in French Guiana focusing on this population at risk.Keywords: sexual assaults, emergency, management, epidemiology, child abuse

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