Association of Intimate Partner Violence and Nutritional Status of Women (aged 15-49 years) in West Bengal, India

Background: Violence against women- especially Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and sexual violence is one of the major public health problems in both developing and developed countries. The aim of the present study was to investigate IPV and nutritional status of women ages 15-49 years in West Bengal, India. Methods: We used National Family Health Survey data, 2015-2016 of West Bengal, India. 1981 sample was used for the present study. Nutritional status was measured by Body Mass Index (BMI) and anemia. IPV included physical, emotional and sexual violence with or without controlled behavior. Other socio economic and demographic factors like educational attainments, age of the respondent, occupation, caste, religion, wealth index, residential pattern etc. were considered in this study for possible predictors of IPV. Results: The study revealed that prevalence of underweight and anemia among women in West Bengal, India was 20% and 20.1% respectively. More prevalence of underweight and anemia were observed among women who were exposed to physical, emotional and sexual violence by their intimate partner. Though we did not find any significant association of IPV and nutritional status, however a significant association was found between educational attainment and IPV. Study revealed that chances of underweight and anemia among women decreased with increased educational level of women. Respondents belonging in rich family were more likely to have better health status among women in West Bengal. No significant association was found between anemic status of women and their age, educational attainment and occupation. However, logistic regression model demonstrated that Muslim and other women were more likely to have anemia than Hindu women. Conclusion: The study concluded that IPV played an important role in increasing likelihood of women’s nutritional and anemic status. The study also showed that some socio-economic and demographic factors were predictors of women’s nutritional and anemic status. Our findings can help government and NGOs for taking health policy to improve the health status of women aged 15-49 years.

背景：针对妇女的暴力行为——尤其是亲密伴侣暴力（IPV）和性暴力，是发展中国家和发达国家面临的主要公共卫生问题之一。本研究旨在调查印度西孟加拉邦15 - 49岁女性的亲密伴侣暴力情况和营养状况。 方法：我们使用了印度西孟加拉邦2015 - 2016年全国家庭健康调查的数据。本研究采用了1981个样本。营养状况通过身体质量指数（BMI）和贫血情况来衡量。亲密伴侣暴力包括有或无控制行为的身体、情感和性暴力。本研究还考虑了其他社会经济和人口因素，如教育程度、受访者年龄、职业、种姓、宗教、财富指数、居住模式等，作为亲密伴侣暴力可能的预测因素。 结果：研究显示，印度西孟加拉邦女性体重过轻和贫血的患病率分别为20%和20.1%。遭受亲密伴侣身体、情感和性暴力的女性中，体重过轻和贫血的患病率更高。尽管我们未发现亲密伴侣暴力与营养状况之间存在任何显著关联，但发现教育程度与亲密伴侣暴力之间存在显著关联。研究表明，女性受教育程度越高，体重过轻和贫血的几率越低。在西孟加拉邦，来自富裕家庭的受访者中女性更有可能拥有更好的健康状况。未发现女性的贫血状况与其年龄、教育程度和职业之间存在显著关联。然而，逻辑回归模型显示，穆斯林和其他女性比印度教女性更有可能患贫血。 结论：研究得出结论，亲密伴侣暴力在增加女性营养和贫血状况的可能性方面起着重要作用。研究还表明，一些社会经济和人口因素是女性营养和贫血状况的预测因素。我们的研究结果可以帮助政府和非政府组织制定卫生政策，以改善15 - 49岁女性的健康状况。