Alcohol use and intimate partner violence in HIV-uninfected pregnant women in Cape Town, South Africa

ABSTRACT

In settings with a high burden of HIV, pregnant women often experience a cluster of risk factors, including alcohol use and intimate partner violence (IPV). These interrelated risks are poorly understood among pregnant women at risk of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. We aim to determine cross-sectional associations between pregnant women’s alcohol use and victimization due to IPV in the HIV-Unexposed-Uninfected Mother-Infant Cohort Study in Cape Town, South Africa. Women who tested HIV-negative at first antenatal care (ANC) visit were followed to delivery. Trained interviewers collected demographic and psychosocial information, including recent alcohol use and experiences of IPV victimization. We assess the prevalence of alcohol use and associations with IPV using multivariable logistic regression. In 406 HIV-uninfected pregnant women (mean age = 28 years; mean gestational age = 21 weeks), 41 (10%) reported alcohol consumption in the past 12 months; 30/41 (73%) of these at hazardous levels. Any and hazardous alcohol use were associated with greater odds of reporting past year IPV (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] for hazardous use: 3.24, 95% CI = 1.11, 7.56; aOR for any alcohol use: 2.97, 95% CI = 1.19, 7.45). These data suggest the occurrence of overlapping HIV risk factors among pregnant women and may help design improved health interventions in this population.

KEYWORDS:

• Pregnancy
• alcohol
• substance use
• South Africa
• intimate partner violence
• HIV
• PMTCT

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

We received funding from the following sources: DJD and LM, National Institute of Mental Health [grant number R01MH116771], DJD Fogarty International Center [grant number K01TW011187], KD Fogarty International Center [grant number K01TW011484] and UCLA Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) [grant number AI028697].