Violence among pregnant women is a potential risk factor for low birth
weight in full-term neonates: a population-based retrospective cohort
study
Abstract
Objective To examine whether the risk of low birth weight stratified by
preterm and term deliveries was different between pregnant women exposed
or unexposed to violence. Design A population-based retrospective cohort
study. Population Four national databases in Taiwan were linked for
analysis. Method A total of 1,322 subjects associated with a report of
domestic violence during pregnancy were compared with 485,981 subjects
without any record of reported domestic violence. Results The percentage
of low birth weight in the group exposed to domestic violence was
significantly higher than in the unexposed group with full-term delivery
(48.6% vs. 46.7%, P=0.001), while there was no statistically
significant difference with preterm delivery. Multivariable logistic
regression analysis showed that pregnant women exposed to domestic
violence had an OR of 1.37 (95% CI: 10.5, 1.79) for low birth weight in
full-term delivery; however, domestic violence was not significantly
associated with low birth weight in preterm delivery. Conclusions Women
whose full-term neonate had low birth weight should be high-priority
targets for domestic violence screening in the perinatal health care
system.