National study of physical and sexual assault among women with disabilities.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between the level of disability impairment and physical and sexual assault in a sample of US women at least 18 years of age.


METHODS
Retrospective longitudinal study of 6273 non-institutionalized US women from 8000 women participating in the 1995-1996 National Violence Against Women (NVAW) Survey.


METHODS
Women's experiences of physical and sexual assault in the 12 months before the NVAW interview.


RESULTS
Most women reported having no disability (n = 5008, 79.8%) and/or not experiencing an assault in the year before their interview (n = 6018, 95.9%). Less than 5% (n = 280) reported having a disability that severely limited daily activities, and 15.7% (n = 985) reported having a disability that moderately limited activities. Less than 4% (n = 218) of the women reported a physical-only assault, and less than 1% (n = 37) reported being sexually assaulted. Women with severe disability impairments were four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than women with no reported disabilities (RR = 4.0, 95% CI 1.5 to 10.6). Little difference in the risk of sexual assault was found between women with moderate disability impairments and those reporting no disabilities (RR = 1.0, 95% CI 0.3 to 2.8). Women with severe (RR = 1.6, 95% CI 0.9 to 3.0) and moderate (RR = 1.2, 95% CI 0.8 to 1.9) disability impairments were at greater risk, although not quite significantly so, of physical-only assault than were women without a disability.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that women with disabilities that severely limit activities of daily living are at increased risk of sexual assault.
Casteel
C
C
Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7505, USA. ccasteel@email.unc.edu
Martin
S L
SL
Smith
J B
JB
Gurka
K K
KK
Kupper
L L
LL
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018585:Battered Women / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016387:Women's Health