Neerja Chowdhary|Vikram Patel
The effect of spousal violence on women's health: Findings from the Stree Arogya Shodh in Goa, India
Sangath|Sangath|London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
bbackgroundb spousal violence wideranging effects physical reproductive sexual psychological health women longitudinal studies describe association developing countries baimb test hypothesis spousal violence independent risk factor broad range adverse health outcomes women bsetting designb populationbased cohort study women living catchment area primary health center north goa two thousand four hundred ninetyfour 3000 randomly selected women recruited 1750 married women included paper bmaterials methodsb participant assessed baseline structured interview assessment exposure spousal violence verbal physical sexual two time periods lifetime recent past three months interview collected data gynecological complaints revised clinical interview schedule used diagnosis depressive disorder laboratory tests anemia sexually transmitted infections sti carried longitudinal data collected six 12 months outcomes addition baseline measures nutritional status menstrual health also obtained bstatistical analysisb univariate analyses carried crosssectional longitudinal data assess association type spousal violence health outcome multivariate analyses adjusted age literacy household per capita income logistic regression used analyses stata version 10 bresultsb lifetime spousal violence reported 290 166 95ci149184 women recent violence reported 230 130 95ci116148 crosssectional data showed association violence range selfreported gynecological complaints low body mass index depressive disorder attempted suicide longitudinal analyses confirmed associations sti attempted suicide bconclusionb spousal violence specifically associated independent risk factor two adverse womens health outcomes viz sti attempted suicide public health clinical programs targeting outcomes must specifically address spousal violence