Peer-reviewed article
Association of adverse pregnancy outcomes and intimate partner violence survivorship: a cross-sectional survey.
Myint WW, Tasnim S, Mealing S, Zaman A, Osuji C et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and adverse pregnancy outcomes among 4,419 married women in Jordan. About 7% of women reported experiencing IPV, and these women had higher rates of miscarriage and low birth weight infants. The risk was particularly high for IPV survivors living in rural areas. Using skilled birth attendants and having higher wealth reduced the likelihood of adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Key points
- 6.7% of the sample (289 women) reported experiencing lifetime IPV
- Among IPV survivors, 13.25% experienced miscarriage or abortion compared to 9.5% of the overall sample
- 23.7% of live births had low birth weight
- IPV survivors in rural areas had 7.72 times higher odds of adverse pregnancy outcomes and low birth weight infants
- Using a skilled birth attendant was protective against adverse pregnancy outcomes (adjusted odds ratio = 0.07)
Limitations
The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation or directionality between IPV and adverse pregnancy outcomes. The study relies on self-reported data on sensitive topics like IPV and pregnancy loss, which may be subject to underreporting or recall bias.
Abstract
Introduction Adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) are poorly understood among women who experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). This study examines the influence of lifetime IPV experiences and social determinants on APOs among Jordanian married women. Methods Cross-sectional data was examined from 4,419 women in the 2023-2024 Jordan Family and Population Health Survey. The outcome variables were APOs, LBW, and pregnancy loss (e.g., miscarriages, stillbirths). The exposure variable was lifetime IPV. Covariates were social determinants (age, education, wealth quintile, residency, regions), having children aged ≤ 5, delivering a singleton or twins/multiple births, using a skilled birth attendant (SBA), and being smokers. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed, and a series of binary logistic regression was fitted, controlling for the covariates. Results About 9.5% (n = 377) of women reported miscarriages, 0.8% (n = 45) induced abortions, 0.2% (n = 14) reported stillbirths, and 89.5% reported live births. Among the live births (n = 3,983), 23.7% had a baby born with LBW. Of the sample, 6.7% (n = 289) reported experiencing IPV. Of them, 86.6% (n = 245) reported delivering a live birth baby, 13.25% (n = 43) reported miscarriage/abortion, 0.1% (n = 1) reported stillbirths. Logistic regression results showed that women from the richest wealth quintile group [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.50] and those who used an SBA (aOR = 0.07) had lower odds of reporting APOs compared to their counterparts. Contrarily, the individuals living in the Northern region showed higher odds of APOs (aOR = 1.43) compared to those that live in the Central region. Among IPV victims, those in the rural areas had higher odds of APOs and LBW infants (aOR = 7.72, p = 0.001), those from the Southern region had lower odds of APO (aOR = 0.14, p = 0.030), those than the reference categories. All p-values are <0.05. Discussion Findings highlight the need for additional research related to the pregnancy implication of women with a history of IPV, especially among those living in the Jordan's Northern region and those from poorer wealth quintile.