Prévalence et caractéristiques des victimes présumées de violences sexuelles prises en charge au service de médecine légale de l’EPH Ahmida Benadjila de Laghouat (2015-2025)

Abstract

Title: Prevalence and Characteristics of Alleged Victims of Sexual Violence Managed at the Forensic Medicine Department of EPH Ahmida Benadjila, Laghouat (2015–2025) Background: Sexual violence represents a major public health and forensic medicine issue due to its physical, psychological, social, and legal consequences. In the absence of comprehensive local data, several questions arise: what is the prevalence of alleged victims of sexual violence managed at the forensic medicine department of EPH Laghouat, and what are their main medico-legal and epidemiological characteristics? Objective: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of alleged victims of sexual violence among patients attending the forensic medicine department of AhmidaBenadjila Hospital in Laghouat over an eleven-year period (2015–2025), and to describe their epidemiological, clinical, and medico-legal characteristics. Methods: This is a retrospective, descriptive, and analytical study conducted over 11 years, from January 2015 to December 2025. It included medico-legal records of alleged victims of sexual violence referred to the forensic medicine department under judicial requisition. Among 424 collected files, 18 were excluded based on selection criteria, resulting in 406 eligible cases. Data were collected using a standardized form and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics. Variables included victim characteristics, circumstances of the alleged acts, medico-legal findings, management, and data related to alleged perpetrators. Results: The overall prevalence of alleged sexual violence was 2.4% among all forensic consultations during the study period. Annual fluctuations were observed, with peaks in 2018 (4.6%) and 2021 (4.1%). Victims were predominantly female (67.5%), with a female-to-male sex ratio of 2.07. The mean age was 14.8 ± 5.6 years, with a predominance of minors, particularly adolescents aged 15–17 years (34.5%). Most victims came from urban areas (88.4%), were attending school (64.3%), and lived with both parents (79.6%). Regarding the alleged assaults, 80.3% of victims reported sexual assault. Penetrative acts were the most frequent form of violence (85.3%), mainly anal (40.5%), followed by vaginal (33.8%), and combined forms (23.6%). The assaults were most often attributed to a single perpetrator (80.4%), usually male (99.7%) and aged 18–34 years (48.2%). In the most cases (43,6 %), the alleged perpetrator was known to the victim. From a medico-legal perspective, genital and/or anal injuries were documented in 32.5% of cases. Hymenal lesions were the most frequent gynecological findings, mainly old tears located between the 5 and 8 o’clock positions. Anal lesions were observed in 20.7% of victims, mainly recent fissures. Most consultations occurred within 72 hours (57.5%); however, biological sampling was rarely performed (1.2%), limiting confirmatory biological evidence, which was obtained in only one case (0.2%). Conclusion: This study highlights an important medico-legal reality of sexual violence in the Laghouat region, mainly affecting young females and minors. Although the overall prevalence among forensic consultations appears low, these cases are likely underreported. The findings underline the need to improve the standardization of medico-legal practices, strengthen multidisciplinary victim care, and develop targeted prevention strategies, as well as regional registries and multicenter studies.