Citation

Grimstad H, Schei B, Backe B, Jacobsen G. Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. 1997; 104(11): 1281-1287.

Affiliation

Department of Community Medicine and General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9386029

Abstract

A case-control study conducted at the University of Trondheim, Norway, in 1992-94 investigated the association between physical or sexual abuse by a male partner and low birth weight. 86 infants who weighed less than 2500 g at delivery were enrolled as cases, while 92 infants with a birth weight of 2500 g or above served as controls. Both the conflict tactics scale and direct questioning in the postpartum period or one year after delivery were used to measure domestic violence. A total of 31 women (17%) reported physical and/or sexual abuse by a current or former partner. Abused women were significantly more likely than their nonabused counterparts to be unemployed, to smoke, and to consume alcohol during pregnancy, but there were no differences between groups in terms of education, marital status, income, mean age at delivery, or mean pre-pregnancy weight. Relatively more mothers of low-birth-weight infants were abused than controls (20% and 15%, respectively), but the association was not statistically significant (odds ratio (OR), 1.37; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.63-2.99). The association remained nonsignificant even after adjustment for potentially confounding factors such as cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy (OR, 1.35; 95% CI, 0.62-2.98).

Language: en