One in six pregnant women has suffered domestic violence according to a study published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology today.
Researchers from Hull Royal Infirmary, UK, gave anonymous and confidential questionnaires to 500 consecutive pregnant women booking at the hospital’s antenatal clinic. The questionnaires were given to the women in a separate room where their partner was not allowed. The questionnaire requested demographic data and asked whether the woman had been physically or emotionally hurt by a partner or someone close to them in the past, or physically hurt in the current pregnancy. Data about the perpetrator of the violence and the type of violence was also sought. Completed questionnaires were received from 475 women.
Domestic violence was reported by 81 participants (17%), including 16 (3.4%) women who had experienced violence during the current pregnancy, 68 (14.3%) who had experienced emotional abuse and 70 (14.7%) who had experienced physical abuse. The prevalence was highest in the group of 26 – 30 years. Domestic violence was more prevalent in single women. The main perpetrators were boyfriends.
Mr Stephen Lindow and colleagues in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hull Royal Infirmary, write that the prevalence of domestic violence in pregnant women “is much more common than many other pregnancy complications.”
“A violent pregnancy is a high risk one with numerous adverse implications for the mother and unborn child. In view of this, it could be argued that standard questions about violence should be included in the same way as questions eliciting risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and alcohol use.”
