New research published in the Social Science & Medicine journal from the Australian Women and Girls’ Health Research (AWaGHR) Centre has found that intimate partner violence (IPV) not only increases the risk of multimorbidity but also accelerates its onset age.
Dr Reza Baneshi found that multimorbidity – the presence of two or more chronic health conditions in the same person – was more common in women with experiences of IPV than in others (58.3% vs 41.9%). The onset of multimorbidity was also 8.7 years earlier in women with experiences of IPV.
Dr Reza Baneshi said the research used linked data to look at associations and investigate whether IPV was associated to an earlier onset of multimorbidity.
“Using data from 12,949 women from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, we looked at the 1946-51 cohort and used logistic regression and parametric survival models to examine the association,” Dr Baneshi said.
“We found that the mean onset age was 70.1 years in women with IPV and 78.8 years in others. Using machine learning methods, we also found that IPV ranked among the top five predictors for multimorbidity.”
Other key predictors for multimorbidity were childhood sexual abuse, a high body mass index, smoking, and a history of hypertension.
AWaGHR Centre Director and senior author of the paper, Professor Gita Mishra said these findings underscore the importance of implementing IPV screening and support into routine health care strategies to mitigate its long-term health impacts.
“The data have shown that IPV is one of the top five factors that increases the risk of multimorbidity and accelerates its onset. We hope these findings can help advocate for safer spaces for women experiencing IPV and to develop tools for healthcare practitioners to notice in patients to reduce the long-term health impacts.”
