Intimate partner violence and termination of pregnancy: a cross-sectional study of married Bangladeshi women.

Mosfequr Rahman

doi:10.1186/s12978-015-0095-7

Abstract

BackgroundThe prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and its consequences on women’s reproductive health and pregnancy outcomes have been well documented. Bangladesh is burdened with the high prevalence of IPV and induced abortion/menstrual regulation. Understanding their association may benefit strategies to reduce termination of pregnancy (TOP). Therefore, this study assesses the association between experience of IPV and TOP among married Bangladeshi women age 15–49 years.MethodsThis cross-sectional study is based on data from 10,146 married women of reproductive age from the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey, 2007 (BDHS). A subset of interviews from currently married women, living with a husband and who had at least one pregnancy in the last 5 years (n = 1875) were extracted.ResultsResults of this study showed that among the respondents, 31.4 % experienced physical and/or sexual IPV: 13.4 % experienced only sexual violence and 25.8 % experienced only physical violence. 21.0 % respondents ever had a TOP and 5.8 % had a TOP in last 5 years. Physical IPV was significantly associated with both TOP ever (OR = 1.36; 95 % CI: 1.05–1.77) and TOP in last 5 years (OR = 1.72; 95 % CI: 1.11–2.06).ConclusionsPrevention of intimate partner violence which was associated with pregnancy termination may reduce the high incidence of termination of pregnancies in Bangladesh.

Highlights

The prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and its consequences on women’s reproductive health and pregnancy outcomes have been well documented
Each pregnancy puts a woman at risk of death, but compared with women who have live births, those who have induced abortions, miscarriages or stillbirths have been found to be at a higher risk of maternal mortality [2,3,4]
Addressing factors that contribute to termination of pregnancy (TOP) is an important step in reducing the reproductive health burden of women

Summary

Introduction

The prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) and its consequences on women’s reproductive health and pregnancy outcomes have been well documented. Bangladesh is burdened with the high prevalence of IPV and induced abortion/menstrual regulation. Understanding their association may benefit strategies to reduce termination of pregnancy (TOP). Each pregnancy puts a woman at risk of death, but compared with women who have live births, those who have induced abortions, miscarriages or stillbirths have been found to be at a higher risk of maternal mortality [2,3,4]. It is found that induced abortions carry a higher risk of maternal mortality than miscarriages, while the risk of maternal death is higher. Previous research indicated that women of childbearing age may be at a higher

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion