title: Intimate Partner Violence and Depression Symptom Severity among South African Women during Pregnancy and Postpartum: Population-Based Prospective Cohort Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Violence against women by intimate partners remains unacceptably common worldwide. The evidence base for the assumed psychological impacts of intimate partner violence (IPV) is derived primarily from studies conducted in high-income countries. A recently published systematic review identified 13 studies linking IPV to incident depression, none of which were conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. To address this gap in the literature, we analyzed longitudinal data collected during the course of a 3-y cluster-randomized trial with the aim of estimating the association between IPV and depression symptom severity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We conducted a secondary analysis of population-based, longitudinal data collected from 1,238 pregnant women during a 3-y cluster-randomized trial of a home visiting intervention in Cape Town, South Africa. Surveys were conducted at baseline, 6 mo, 18 mo, and 36 mo (85% retention). The primary explanatory variable of interest was exposure to four types of physical IPV in the past year. Depression symptom severity was measured using the Xhosa version of the ten-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. In a pooled cross-sectional multivariable regression model adjusting for potentially confounding time-fixed and time-varying covariates, lagged IPV intensity had a statistically significant association with depression symptom severity (regression coefficient b = 1.04; 95% CI, 0.61-1.47), with estimates from a quantile regression model showing greater adverse impacts at the upper end of the conditional depression distribution. Fitting a fixed effects regression model accounting for all time-invariant confounding (e.g., history of childhood sexual abuse) yielded similar findings (b = 1.54; 95% CI, 1.13-1.96). The magnitudes of the coefficients indicated that a one-standard-deviation increase in IPV intensity was associated with a 12.3% relative increase in depression symptom severity over the same time period. The most important limitations of our study include exposure assessment that lacked measurement of sexual violence, which could have caused us to underestimate the severity of exposure; the extended latency period in the lagged analysis, which could have caused us to underestimate the strength of the association; and outcome assessment that was limited to the use of a screening instrument for depression symptom severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this secondary analysis of data from a population-based, 3-y cluster-randomized controlled trial, IPV had a statistically significant association with depression symptom severity. The estimated associations were relatively large in magnitude, consistent with findings from high-income countries, and robust to potential confounding by time-invariant factors. Intensive health sector responses to reduce IPV and improve women's mental health should be explored.
authors.affiliation: Massachusetts General Hospital, MGH Global Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.|Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.|Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
authors.forename: Alexander C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
authors.affiliation: Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.|Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: W Scott
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Comulada
authors.affiliation: Center for HIV Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.|Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Mary Jane
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Rotheram-Borus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D000066511:Intimate Partner Violence / Q000523:psychology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D011159:Population Surveillance; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult