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Intimate partner violence and sexually transmitted disease symptoms in a national sample of married Bangladeshi women
Author(s) -
Decker M.R.,
Miller E.,
Kapur N.A.,
Gupta J.,
Raj A.,
Silverman J.G.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2007.06.045
Subject(s) - medicine , vaginal discharge , context (archaeology) , sexual intercourse , domestic violence , sexually transmitted disease , poison control , demography , injury prevention , population , gynecology , environmental health , family medicine , syphilis , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , paleontology , sociology , biology
Objectives To assess associations of intimate partner violence (IPV) with women's sexually transmitted disease (STD) symptoms, and to clarify biological and behavioral mechanisms underpinning heightened STD rates among abused women. Methods A cross‐sectional investigation of married couples ( n = 2865) sampled via the Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey. Results Over one third (38%) of married Bangladeshi women experienced physical or sexual IPV in the 12 months preceding the survey. Victimization was bivariately associated with vaginal irritation/discharge, pelvic pain during intercourse, genital sores/ulcers, and vaginal discharge with odor (OR 1.39–2.09). IPV demonstrated an independent effect on vaginal irritation with discharge (adjusted OR 1.34) and vaginal discharge with odor (adjusted OR 2.08) after accounting for STD exposure (i.e., husbands’ recent STD). Conclusions IPV elevates married Bangladeshi women's STD symptoms beyond the risk represented by husbands’ STD alone, suggesting that high rates of STD among abusive men and the context of violence itself both relate to abused women's STD risk.