Background: Sexual assault is a special type of violence with great effects on the victims. In Egypt, there are no accurate statistical data about sexual assault.
Objective: The aim of this work was to study the pattern of sexual assault in Gharbia Governorate, Egypt.
Subjects and methods: This study was conducted in Tanta Department of Forensic Institute of Ministry of Justice, Egypt. It included collection of retrospective data during the period from the start of January 2011 to the end of June 2014.Cross section study of sexual assault cases was also done from the start of July 2014 to the end of December 2014.Complete history taking as well as full general and local examination was done for the studied cases.
Results and conclusion: Total number of sexual assault cases was 229 over the studied period. The median age of victims was 16 years with interquartile range of 10-21 ranging from 3 to 63 years.  Most cases (63.3%) were less than 18 years, 76% of the cases were females, and came from urban areas (63.3%). Unmarried cases constituted 83%. Rape was the most frequent type of assault (41%).
Most of the assailants were outside the familial relations to the victims (91.3%), and a single assailant was responsible in 78.6% of the cases. The most common type of physical injury was abrasion (46.75%), whereas the least were bites (1.29%). Most cases (68.6%) were examined within 10 days after the assault; hymnal tear was the commonest injury on vulvovaginal examination (88.4%). Anal examination revealed chronic habit of anal sex in 18.52% of cases.
The present study concluded that unmarried females under the age of 18years from urban areas constituted the major victims of sexual assault in Gharbia Governorate. Rape was the commonest reported assault in this study. Logistic regression analysis revealed that age, gender and marital status were good predictors of type of sexual assault.
Recommendations: Medico legal examination of sexual assaults should be done as early as possible for the value of collecting evidence. Medical education for the children and their family about methods of protection against sexual assault should be considered