Maxillofacial trauma in ethnic minorities: has Brexit promoted an increase in violence and discrimination?

The main objective of this study was to evaluate whether the 2016 Brexit referendum has contributed to an increase in maxillofacial injuries specifically targeted against ethnic minority groups in the district of North London. The secondary objectives were to identify the most common types of injuries following the assaults and the number of patients admitted to hospital. A total of 1,391 people was assaulted between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2018. They were classified into the following categories: White (62.4%), Asian (13.6%), Black/African-Caribbean (11.9%), Other (Arab) (9%) and Mixed Ethnic Group (3.2%). A shift in the proportion of ethnicities affected, rather than an increase in the overall number of injuries, was observed during the five-year period. A significant increase in assaults against individuals of Asian ethnicity (p<0.01) and against Croatians (p<0.01) was recorded between 2014 and 2018. Peaks in assaults against white non-British individuals and Romanians were also identified in 2017 (p=0.04 and p<0.01, respectively). Furthermore, the White British (p=0.02), Asian (p<0.01) ethnic groups and the Spanish, Romanian, Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, Albanian and Croatian (p<0.01) nationalities experienced a significantly disproportionate number of attacks compared to their population share in North London during this five-year period. The most common injuries were contusion, and fractures of the nasal bones and mandible at 24.2%, 17.1%, and 16.5%, respectively. A total of 415 patients (29.8%) required hospital admission for treatment and 47.6% received conservative treatment. The authors have concluded that the Brexit vote may have played an important role in increasing violence and hate crime against specific ethnic minorities.