Associations between intimate partner violence and adverse birth outcomes during pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cancan Guo; Mengtong Wan; Yue Wang; Peijie Wang; Marissa Tousey-Pfarrer; Haoyang Liu; Liangming Yu; Lingqi Jian; Mengting Zhang; Ziqi Yang; Fenfen Ge; Jun Zhang

doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1140787

Associations between intimate partner violence and adverse birth outcomes during pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Front Med (Lausanne). 2023 May 17:10:1140787. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1140787. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Cancan Guo^#¹, Mengtong Wan^#², Yue Wang^{3

4}, Peijie Wang⁵, Marissa Tousey-Pfarrer⁴, Haoyang Liu¹, Liangming Yu¹, Lingqi Jian¹, Mengting Zhang¹, Ziqi Yang¹, Fenfen Ge^#^{3

4}, Jun Zhang^#³

Affiliations

¹ West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
² School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
³ Mental Health Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
⁴ Center of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.
⁵ School of Education, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been associated with an elevated risk of multiple adverse birth outcomes, yet little is known about how specific IPV influences adverse birth outcomes. The aim of this study was to examine the association between IPV during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes (i.e., preterm birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth).

Methods: Systematic searches were conducted using four databases: EMBASE, Web of Science, PubMed, and CINAHL for observational studies published from 1 January 2011 to 31 August 2021. Two reviewers independently carried out the literature search, study selection, data extraction, assessment of the study, and risk of bias assessment; disagreements were resolved by a third reviewer. A random-effect model was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) for preterm birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth. I² statistic accompanied by chi-square p-value was used to assess heterogeneity, and funnel plot and Peter's test were used to assess publication bias.

Results: In total, 23 studies met the inclusion criterion. IPV was associated with preterm birth (OR = 1.84; 95% CI: 1.37-2.49; I² = 88%), low birth weight (OR = 2.73; 95% CI: 1.66-4.48; I² = 95%), and stillbirth (OR = 1.74; 95% CI: 0.86-3.54; I² = 64%). We attained comparable results among all specific IPV including physical, sexual, emotional, and mixed.

Conclusion: Intimate partner violence and specific IPV during pregnancy were significantly associated with adverse birth outcomes, especially for physical IPV. An urgent need for greater action to prevent or intervene in IPV during pregnancy is warranted.

Systematic review registration: CRD42021282936, https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/.

Keywords: intimate partner violence; low birth weight; meta-analysis; preterm birth; stillbirth.

Publication types

Systematic Review

Grants and funding

This study was financially supported by the project Key Research Project, Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (No. 2020YFS0232, JZ).