Objective: The objective of this article is to assess the prevalence of somatic symptoms and of gastrointestinal (GI) syndromes in abused "non-patient" women and the association with the time of perpetration, type, and severity of abuse.
Methods: Sixty-seven women, 18-58 years, receiving shelter in anti-violence associations were invited to fill out an anonymous questionnaire with a medical and an abuse section. The severity of abuse was expressed as the 0-6 Abuse Severity Measure (ASM). The association between abuse characteristics and the number of symptoms, and GI syndromes was assessed by Poisson regression model.
Results: Most women suffered from childhood and adulthood sexual and physical abuse. They reported a mean of 5.1 GI symptoms (range 0-13; median 5; IQR 6) and of 1.3 extra-GI symptoms (range 0-6; median 1; IQR 2); 30% of women matched the Rome II Criteria for one, 36% for two, and 4.4% for three or more syndromes, respectively. Women with an ASM of 5-6, having suffered from both sexual and physical abuse, reported significantly (p = 0.02) more GI symptoms, but not extra-GI ones (p = 0.07), and met criteria for more GI syndromes than women with an ASM ≤4 and those reporting only one type of abuse. No association was found between the time of perpetration of the abuse and the number of GI and extra-GI symptoms.
Conclusions: Symptoms in abused "non-patient" women mainly concern the abdomen and the GI tract. A history of severe, combined physical and sexual abuse is associated with a higher number of GI symptoms.
Keywords: Chronic gastrointestinal disorders; abuse severity measure; functional gastrointestinal disorders; physical abuse; sexual abuse; somatization.