A new ADR Wales Data Insight has looked at the differing rates of acts of violence against groups of people in Wales.
The work carried out by the ADR Wales Social Justice team measured incidences of recorded violence across sociodemographic groups in Wales using routinely collected administrative and health data. This included records of death where assault appeared as a primary or contributing cause, GP records of violence, attendance at Accident and Emergency—or hospital admissions—for violence-related reasons (including assault/abuse).
Study results showed the rate of violence remained stable between 4.54 and 5.00 per 1,000 people in Wales until 2019. In 2020, there was a drop to 3.88 per 1,000 people, likely reflecting reduced healthcare use during the Covid-19 pandemic, before increasing again to 4.55 in 2022.
Using personal and protected characteristics, a snapshot in 2022 showed higher violence rates for the following groups:
- Females (higher than males)
- Younger age groups and more deprived areas
- People with intellectual, developmental or physical disabilities (more than those with sensory or multiple disabilities)
- Asylum seekers and refugees
- LGBTQ+ individuals
- People from Black and Mixed/multiple ethnic groups
- People with no religion or ‘Other’ religion
- People who have never married, are separated, or are in civil partnerships.
The analysis used anonymised individual- and household-level, population-wide linked data held within the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank at Swansea University.
The study included 3,372,174 individuals over 10 years, equivalent to 25.7 million person-years of follow-up. In total, 95,716 individuals interacted with health services or died due to violence, equating to 156,085 domestic violence records.
Jane Lyons, the lead author, said, “Linking demographic and national healthcare datasets can help quantify the number of individuals interacting with health services or dying due to violence. It also allows us to better understand the characteristics of those disproportionately affected by violence, supporting more targeted intervention.”