title: No effect of unemployment on intimate partner-related femicide during the financial crisis: a longitudinal ecological study in Spain.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Spain's financial crisis has been characterized by an increase in unemployment. This increase could have produced an increase in deaths of women due to intimate partner-related femicides (IPF). This study aims to determine whether the increase in unemployment among both sexes in different regions in Spain is related to an increase in the rates of IPF during the current financial crisis period.
  
  
  METHODS
  An ecological longitudinal study was carried out in Spain's 17 regions. Two study periods were defined: pre-crisis period (2005-2007) and crisis period (2008-2013). IPF rates adjusted by age and unemployment rates for men and women were calculated. We fitted multilevel linear regression models in which observations at level 1 were nested within regions according to a repeated measurements design.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Rates of unemployment have progressively increased in Spain, rising above 20 % from 2008 to 2013 in some regions. IPF rates decreased in some regions during crisis period with respect to pre-crisis period. The multilevel analysis does not support the existence of a significant relationship between the increase in unemployment in men and women and the decrease in IPF since 2008.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The increase in unemployment in men and women in Spain does not appear to have an effect on IPF. The results of the multilevel analysis discard the hypothesis that the increase in the rates of unemployment in women and men are related to an increase in IPF rates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The decline in IPF since 2008 might be interpreted as the result of exposure to other factors such as the lower frequency of divorces in recent years or the medium term effects of the integral protection measures of the law on gender violence that began in 2005.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Research Group, Department of Community Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and History of Science, Alicante University, San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03080, Alicante, Spain. jordi.torrubiano@ua.es.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Torrubiano-Domínguez
authors.affiliation: Public Health Research Group, Department of Community Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and History of Science, Alicante University, San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03080, Alicante, Spain. carmen.vives@ua.es.|CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain. carmen.vives@ua.es.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vives-Cases
authors.affiliation: Unit of Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. miguel.sansebastian@umu.se.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: San-Sebastián
authors.affiliation: CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain. bsanz@isciii.es.|National School of Public Health, Institute of Health "Carlos III", Madrid, Spain. bsanz@isciii.es.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sanz-Barbero
authors.affiliation: Public Health Research Group, Department of Community Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and History of Science, Alicante University, San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03080, Alicante, Spain. isabel.goicolea@umu.se.|Unit of Epidemiology and Global Health, Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. isabel.goicolea@umu.se.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Goicolea
authors.affiliation: Public Health Research Group, Department of Community Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and History of Science, Alicante University, San Vicente del Raspeig s/n, 03080, Alicante, Spain. carlos.alvarez@ua.es.|CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain. carlos.alvarez@ua.es.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Álvarez-Dardet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D057172:Economic Recession; D005260:Female; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D012747:Sexual Partners; D013030:Spain; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014754:Violence