Intimate partner violence and death among infants and children in India.
OBJECTIVE
The goal was to test the association between maternal intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization and child death.


METHODS
Information was collected regarding 39096 children <60 months of age in the nationally representative 2005-2006 National Family Health Survey of India. The exposures were maternal reports of physical, sexual, psychological, and any IPV. Outcomes included infant (0 to <12 months), older child (12 to <60 months), and any child (0 to <60 months) deaths.


RESULTS
Maternal experience of physical IPV was associated with increased mortality rates among all children (risk ratio [RR]: 1.21 [95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13-1.30]), infants (RR: 1.24 [95% CI: 1.01-1.53]), and older children (RR: 1.25 [95% CI: 1.00-1.56]). Sexual and psychological IPV were less strongly associated with child death. The associations between maternal IPV and death did not differ according to the child's gender.


CONCLUSIONS
The robust association between exposure to household IPV and infant and child death could be attributable to the mother's inability to care for her child, psychological stress associated with witnessing violence, and the use of maternal violence victimization as a proxy for child violence victimization.
Ackerson
Leland K
LK
Department of Community Health and Sustainability, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, USA. leland_ackerson@uml.edu
Subramanian
S V
SV
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D046688:Child Mortality; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014754:Violence; D055815:Young Adult