Domestic violence victims in a hospital setting: prevalence, health impact and patients’ preferences – results from a cross-sectional study

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic data for patients with and without DV.

	No DV (n = 1678)		Lifetime prevalence of DV (n = 353)
	mean	(SD; range)	mean	(SD; range)
Age	43.5	(15.9; 18–86)	40.9	(16.4; 18–82)
	n	(%)	n	(%)
Sex
Male	786	46.8%	146	41.4%
Female	892	53.2%	207	58.6%
Relationship status
Married/long-term relationship	1196	71.3%	204	57.8%
Single	335	20.0%	92	26.1%
Divorced	83	4.9%	39	11.0%
Widowed	22	1.3%	6	1.7%
Missing data	42	2.5%	12	3.4%
Level of education
School not finished	16	1.0%	13	3.7%
Compulsory school	125	7.4%	37	10.5%
Compulsory school and apprenticeship	613	36.5%	103	29.2%
Higher education	474	28.2%	105	29.7%
University degree	312	18.6%	68	19.3%
Missing data	138	8.2%	27	7.6%
Living situation
Living alone	269	16.0%	73	20.7%
Living with partner/family	1054	62.8%	180	51.0%
Living with family of origin	121	7.2%	26	7.4%
Living in shared apartment	115	6.9%	41	11.6%
Missing data	119	7.1%	33	9.3%
Parenthood	654 (range: 1–14)	39.0%	125 (range: 1–5)	35.4%
Missing data	207	12.3%	72	20.4%
Living environment
Rural	932	55.5%	167	47.3%
Urban	655	39.0%	162	45.9%
Missing data	91	5.4%	24	6.8%
Disability	84	5.0%	34	9.6%
Missing	62	3.7%	8	2.3%

DV = domestic violence; SD = standard deviation.

Table 2. Clinical data for patients with and without DV.

	n		%
DV (lifetime)	353		17.4%
Current DV	82		4.0%
DV 2–5 years ago	156		7.7%
DV ≥ 6 years ago	134		6.6%
	No DV (n = 1678)		Lifetime prevalence of DV (n = 353)
Physical disorders	n	%	n	%
Chronic pain	407	24.3%	101	28.6%
Respiratory diseases	258	15.4%	67	19.0%
Musculoskeletal disorders	255	15.2%	68	19.3%
Neurological disorders	252	15.0%	63	17.8%
Gastrointestinal diseases	205	12.2%	76	21.5%
Metabolic diseases	209	12.5%	60	17.0%
Cardiovascular diseases	209	12.5%	53	15.0%
Cancer	224	13.3%	34	9.6%
Urogenital disorders	155	9.2%	61	17.3%
Gynaecological diseases	153	9.1%	54	15.3%
Skin diseases	140	8.3%	46	13.0%
Psychological distress	mean/n	SD/%	mean/n	SD/%
Mean depression score (SD)	1.6	3.0	3.5	4.9
above cut-off: n (%)	187	11.1%	98	27.8%
Mean anxiety (SD)	2.2	3.1	4.1	4.4
above cut-off: n (%)	312	18.6%	128	36.3%
Mean trauma-related symptom score (SD)	9.1	11.2	18.2	15.1
above cut-off: n (%)	198	11.8%	117	33.1%
Childhood abuse	n	%	n	%
None	1198	71.4%	129	36.5%
1–3 types of abuse	401	23.9%	164	46.5%
≥ 4 types of abuse	59	3.5%	57	16.1%
missing	20	1.2%	3	0.8%

DV = domestic violence; SD = standard deviation.

Table 3. Odds ratios for patients with DV (compared to patients without DV) for physical and mental health.

	OR	95% CI	p-value
Physical disorders
Chronic pain	1.54	1.20–1.99	.001
Gastrointestinal disorders	1.87	1.39–2.53	< .001
Metabolic diseases	1.48	1.07–2.03	.017
Musculoskeletal disorders	1.54	1.13–2.08	.006
Gynaecological disorders	1.81	1.29–2.55	.001
Respiratory diseases	1.55	1.16–2.07	.003
Urogenital disorders	2.23	1.60–3.10	< .001
Skin diseases	1.62	1.18–2.23	.003
Cardiovascular diseases	1.40	1.00–1.95	.048
Cancer	0.81	0.55–1.17	.26
Neurological disorders	1.21	0.93–1.58	.16
Psychological distress
Trauma-related symptoms	3.65	2.75–4.84	< .001
Depression	2.95	2.23–3.90	< .001
Anxiety	2.41	1.87–3.11	< .001

OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval; all analyses were controlled for age and gender.

Figure 1. Number of self-reported physical diseases, ETI total, BSI depression and anxiety mean scores with standard error for patients with current DV, DV two to five years earlier and DV six or more years earlier.

CV = childhood victimization; DV = domestic violence.

Figure 2. Identified victims of DV.