Use of multiple failure models in injury epidemiology: a case study of arrest and intimate partner violence recidivism in Seattle, WA

Background Single-failure survival models are commonly used in injury research. We aimed to demonstrate the application of multiple failure survival models in injury research by measuring the association between arrest and IPV recidivism. Methods We used data from a population-based cohort of 5466 male-female couples with a police-reported, male-perpetrated incident of IPV against their female partners that occurred in Seattle, WA during 1999–2001. We estimated the risk of physical and psychological IPV recidivism (separately) for the 12 months following the index event, according to perpetrator arrest or non-arrest for the index event. We used time-dependent extended Cox regression analyses for time-to-first IPV event and Prentice, Williams and Peterson model-based analyses for time-to-multiple IPV events. Results Arrest was associated with a reduction in time-to-first physical IPV recurrence but was not associated with time-to-first psychological IPV recurrence during the 12-month follow-up. Arrest was associated with a significantly decreased risk of physical and psychological IPV during the 12-month follow-up in the multiple failure models. The association between arrest and lower risk of physical IPV recidivism increased with increasing number of follow-up IPV events. Conclusions We found arrest to be a plausible deterrent for recurrent IPV reduction. Our study also illustrates the use of multiple failure survival analyses in injury research. Such techniques facilitate inference about estimands that may have greater public health relevance and properly account for injury recurrence. By using multiple failure models, we were able to more deeply understand the relationship between arrest and IPV over time.