Maternal Experience of Domestic Violence, Associations with Children's Lipid Biomarkers at 10 Years: Findings from MINIMat Study in Rural Bangladesh.

Shirin Ziaei,Rubhana Raqib,Eva-Charlotte Ekström,Ruchira Tabassum Naved,Anisur Rahman

doi:10.3390/nu11040910

Shirin Ziaei, Rubhana Raqib + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11040910

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Abstract

The consequences of maternal experience of Domestic Violence (DV) on their children’s cardio-metabolic risk factors are unclear. We aimed to assess if maternal exposure to any or a specific form of DV (i.e., physical, sexual, emotional and controlling behaviors) before and after childbirth was associated with their children’s lipid biomarkers at the age of 10 years. A current observational sub-study of a larger MINIMat trial included a cohort of 1167 mothers and their children. The conflict tactic scale was used to record women’s experience of lifetime DV before and after childbirth at week 30 of pregnancy and at a 10-year follow up, respectively. Five ml of fasting blood sample was collected from the children to evaluate their lipid profile. Children of women who experienced any DV before childbirth had lower Apo A (βadj −0.04; 95% CI: −0.08, −0.01). Women who experienced physical DV both before and after childbirth had children with higher triglycerides (βadj 0.07; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.14). Children whose mother experienced sexual DV before birth had lower Apo A (βadj −0.05; 95% CI: −0.08, −0.01) and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) (βadj −0.05; 95% CI: −0.10, −0.01) as well as higher Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) (βadj 0.17; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.29) and LDL/HDL (β 0.24; 95% CI: 0.11, 0.38). However, levels of LDL (βadj −0.17; 95% CI: −0.28, −0.06), LDL/HDL (βadj −0.12; 95% CI: −0.25, −0.00) and cholesterol (βadj −0.13; 95% CI: −0.25, −0.02) were lower among the children of mothers who experienced controlling behavior after childbirth. Results from the current study suggest that maternal experience of physical or sexual DV might negatively affect their children’s lipid profile at the age of 10 years.

Highlights

The global burden of non-communicable and in cardio-metabolic diseases is rapidly increasing in low- and middle-income countries [1,2]
From the 1247 children who provided blood samples, maternal experience of Domestic Violence (DV) was not available for 75 children, further, five children were missing biomarkers values, resulting in 1167 children included in the final analyses (Figure 1)
No other differences between demographic and anthropometric characteristics of the women and their children were found between the ones with missing and complete data

Summary

Introduction

The global burden of non-communicable and in cardio-metabolic diseases is rapidly increasing in low- and middle-income countries [1,2]. Development of cardio-metabolic diseases starts as early as fetal life and childhood [4,5]. A growing body of evidence suggests that early life stress exposure, including maternal experience of psychological stress may have long-lasting programming effects on metabolic and endocrine systems of the offspring and children and make them more susceptible to NCDs [6,7,8]. Individuals who were exposed to maternal psychological stress during pregnancy have been shown to have higher body mass index, an unfavorable lipid profile and insulin resistance in their adult life [10,11,12]

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