The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of sexual violence against children and adolescents in the home environment in Brazil

Abstract

The scope of this article is to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence of sexual violence against children and adolescents in the home environment in Brazil. It involves an ecological time-series study using joinpoint regression based on data from the Notifiable Diseases Information System from 2009 to 2021. The relative frequency and crude incidence rates of sexual violence occurring in the home against the population group aged 0 to 19 years were analyzed, estimating the annual percentage change (APC) and average annual percentage change (AAPC), with a 95% confidence interval. The relative frequency of the problem was higher in 2020 (69.8%) and 2021 (71.7%), with an increase of 3.1% (p = 0.001) in 2017-2021. Girls were more affected, with rates rising in 2009-2012 (APC = 44.4; p = 0.010) and 2015-2019 (APC = 16.6; p=0.017) but falling in 2019-2021 (APC= -17.7; p = 0.042). All age groups showed a significant increase until 2019, and a reduction after this year for 5-9 years (APC = -18.6; p = 0.016), 10-14 years (APC = -14.1; p = 0.040) and 15-19 years (APC = -18.4; p = 0.021). The reduction in the incidence rates of this type of violence may have been influenced by the context of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the underreporting of cases.

Key words:
Sexual abuse of children and adolescents; Social isolation; Pandemic; COVID-19