PHYSICAL ABUSE AND LOW-BIRTH-WEIGHT - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Objective To examine whether physical abuse of a woman by her partner was associated with low birthweight. Design A case-control study. Sett ing Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, University Hospital of T rondheim, Norway Participants/sample Eighty-six women who were deliver ed of a low birthweight (< 2500 g) infant (cases) and 92 women who wer e delivered of an infant with birthweight greater than or equal to 250 0 g (controls). Methods An in-depth interview, either postpartum at th e maternity ward or one year after delivery. Information about abuse w as obtained by direct questioning and a modified version of the Confli ct Tactics Scales. Results A total of 17% of the women had experienced abuse by a partner. While 7% had been abused by their current partner before the index pregnancy only one woman reported abuse during pregn ancy. Relatively more mothers of low birthweight infants were abused ( 20%) compared with controls (15%), but the association was not statist ically significant (OR 1.37, 95% CI 0.63-2.99). Abused women reported a higher consumption of alcohol and cigarettes in pregnancy compared w ith nonabused women. Conclusion Abuse was not found to be a risk facto r for low birthweight in this study.