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The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on August 7, 2009
The European Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckp110
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

The hidden figure: sexual intimate partner violence among Pakistani women

Mufiza Zia Kapadia1, Sarah Saleem2 and Mehtab S. Karim2

1 Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG, Scotland, UK
2 Department of Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan

Correspondence: Mufiza Zia Kapadia, MD, MSc Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG Scotland, UK, tel: +44 75 02 325220, fax: +44 131 6506909, e-mail: mufiza.farid{at}gmail.com

Received March 14, 2008 , accepted July 15, 2009

Background: The objectives of the present study were to determine the magnitude and factors associated with sexual intimate partner violence (SIPV) in women presenting to tertiary-care hospitals of Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: Five hundred women who presented to four tertiary-care hospitals to deliver were interviewed from September to December 2005. SIPV was assessed by using questions on sexual abuse in WHO Domestic Violence Module designed to determine intimate partner violence. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to determine factors associated with SIPV. Results: Twenty-one percent of women reported experiencing sexual violence in their married life. Gravida with five or more pregnancies [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12–6.96], index pregnancy as unwanted (AOR = 2.64; CI 1.16–6.02) and conflict with in-laws (AOR 1.9 CI 1.14–3.16) were independently associated with sexual abuse. Women who had social support were less likely to be abused by their intimate partners (AOR 0.76; CI 0.58–0.98). Conclusion: One in five women reported spousal sexual abuse in their married life. Women having more than five children, unwanted pregnancies or reporting differences with in-laws are more likely to be subjected to such abuse. Social support protects women from sexual abuse by intimate partner.

Keywords: sexual intimate partner violence, developing country, risk factors.


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