Characteristics and Health Consequences of Adolescent
Sexual Assault at Police General Hospital, Thailand
Sutham Suthaporn MD*, Seree Teerapong MD*,
Tepchongchit Aojanepong MBBS, MSc*, Alisara Sangviroon PhD**,
Kitinapa Napakorn MSc***, Kornkarn Bhamarapravatana PhD****
Affiliation :
* Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Police General Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand
** Department of Pharmacy, Police General Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand
*** Department of Pathology, Police General Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand
**** Department of Preclinical Science, Thammasat University, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Objective : To describe the characteristic and epidemiology of adolescent sexual assaults and to compare health consequences
between adolescent and adult victims.
Material and Method: Retrospective review of sexual assault victims records of those who were examined in sexual assault
program in Police General Hospital between January 1 and December 31, 2012.
Results : There were 335 cases of adolescents sexual assault victims. Most of them were in junior high school (62.4%). Most
adolescent sexual assaults were committed by boyfriends (50.3%) and acquaintance/friends (14.7%). The most common
place for the assaults was the offender’s residence (52.9%). Delayed medical evaluation was common. Only 49.4% attended
medical evaluation within 72 hours. Adolescent victims had a higher pregnancy rate than adult victims (9.0% vs. 3.6%),
but lower rate of non-genital injuries (14.6% vs. 36.3%). Only labia minora injury of adolescent was significantly
lower than adult (9.3% vs. 17.5%) among genital injuries. Hepatitis B infection rate of adolescent was lower than adult
(1.2% vs. 4.5%), whereas other types of infection were not different.
Conclusion : Thai adolescents had set the unique assault characteristic different from adult victims. Adolescent victims were
mainly assaulted by boyfriends at assailant’s residence, with higher pregnancy rate than other international reports. Promote
education to adolescences is highly recommended to decrease cases of rape and rape-related pregnancy in female adolescent.
Keywords : Sexual assault, Adolescent, Pregnancy, Sexual transmitted diseases, Genital injuries, Non-genital injuries
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