Intimate Partner Violence and Perinatal Health: A Systematic Review.

Pastor-Moreno, Guadalupe; Ruiz-Pérez, Isabel; Henares-Montiel, Jesús; Escribà -Agüir, Vicenta; Higueras-Callejón, Camila; Ricci-Cabello, Ignacio

BACKGROUND Physical, psychological and sexual Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) have been described in the literature as different types of IPV experienced by women during pregnancy all over the world. OBJECTIVES To systematically review and summarize the empirical evidence on the links between IPV during pregnancy and the perinatal health of mothers and fetuses/neonates. SEARCH STRATEGY Medline (Ovid), CINAHL, Embase, Nursing@ovid (Ovid) and LILACS were performed (2008-2018). SELECTION CRITERIA Observational studies that examined perinatal health outcomes (i.e. preterm-birth, low birthweight, miscarriage, perinatal death and premature rupture of membranes) in pregnant women exposed to IPV. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Information on study characteristics, type of IPV measured, study design, methodological quality, and outcome variable extracted. RESULTS 50 studies were included. 29 analyzed undifferentiated IPV (n=25,489), 34 included physical IPV (n=7,333), 22 analyzed psychological IPV (n=7,833) and 18 examined sexual IPV (n=2,388). 15 studies were from Asia, 12 from North America and Oceania and 12 from Central and South America. The studies examined the association between IPV and 39 different perinatal health outcomes. The most frequent outcomes reported were pre-term birth (50%), low birthweight (46%), miscarriage (30%), perinatal death (20%) and premature rupture of membranes (20%). 12 of the studies that analyzed undifferentiated IPV, 18 physical IPV, 6 psychological IPV and 2 that examined sexual IPV reported a significant association with perinatal health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS The relationship between IPV and perinatal health outcomes can be seen in different epidemiological designs and countries. 39 different outcomes were identified and 29 were associated with IPV.