Physical intimate partner violence and dietary patterns in pregnancy: a Brazilian cohort

Abstract

Little is known about the repercussions of intimate partner violence (IPV) on nutritional outcomes in pregnancy, especially regarding diet. The aim was to investigate whether the occurrence of physical IPV at any time during pregnancy is associated with gestational dietary patterns. 161 adult pregnant women were enrolled in a prospective cohort study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Overall and severe physical IPV were measured to evaluate IPV at any time during pregnancy. Three gestational dietary patterns (“Healthy”, “Common-Brazilian”, and “Processed”) were established by principal component analysis. The effect of physical IPV was tested in relation to the score of adherence to each of the dietary patterns. The occurrence of overall and severe physical IPV at any time during pregnancy was 20.4% and 6.8%, respectively. Women living in intimate relationships in which overall and severe physical IPV occurred had an average increase of 0.604 units (95%CI 0.149-1.058) and 1.347 units (95%CI 0.670-2.024), respectively, in the Processed dietary pattern adherence score. No association with “Healthy” and “Common-Brazilian” dietary patterns was observed. Physical IPV was associated with greater adherence to a dietary pattern of lower nutritional quality.