Survey study, 2003
Do women who experienced recent abuse have more health problems than other women?
Yes. Four percent of women at gynecology clinics reported recent abuse. Women who reported abuse had more mental health diagnoses, more physical symptoms, more stress, and worse overall health compared to women without abuse.
What they did
118 women who reported physical or sexual abuse in the past year were compared with 2800 women who reported no abuse at seven gynecology practices. Doctors assessed mental health diagnoses, physical symptoms, stress, health status, and how often women visited doctors.
What they found
Four percent of women reported recent physical or sexual abuse. Compared to non-abused women, women who reported abuse had more mental health diagnoses, more severe mental distress, more physical symptoms, more life stressors, more doctor visits, and reported worse health status.
What it means for you
Screening women for abuse at gynecology clinics could help identify those needing help and possibly reduce unnecessary medical visits. The main limitation is that this study compared abused and non-abused women at one point in time but did not test whether actually screening and recognizing abuse would improve health outcomes.
4%
of women reported recent abuse
118
women reported recent abuse
2800
women reported no recent abuse
About the study
- Original title
- Differing symptoms of abused versus nonabused women in obstetric-gynecology settings
- Authors
- Kovac SH, Klapow JC, Kroenke K et al.
- Journal
- American journal of obstetrics and gynecology
- Year
- 2003
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 2,800
- What was tested
- Comparison of women with history of abuse versus women without abuse.
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1067/mob.2003.193
Topics
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