The Study of Intimate Partner Violence-Related Head Trauma: Recommendations from the Enhancing Neuroimaging and Genetics through Meta-Analysis Consortium Intimate Partner Violence Working Group

Abstract

Intimate partner violence includes psychological aggression, physical violence, sexual violence, and stalking from a current or former intimate partner. Experiencing intimate partner violence is associated with impaired neurocognitive and psychosocial functioning, mental illness, as well as structural brain alterations. These impairments seem to be compounded by exposure to physical trauma to the head. Importantly, up to 90% of women exposed to intimate partner violence also experience some form of head trauma or even repetitive head trauma. However, research on this topic is sparse, and the neurobehavioral and neurobiological effects of head trauma in this population have not been systematically investigated. A key aim of the EnhancingNeuroimaging and Genetics through Meta-Analysis Consortium Intimate Partner Violence Working Group is to provide recommendations for the harmonization of measures collected to facilitate the meta-analysis of neuropsychological, neuroimaging, and genetic data across studies. Here, we review the current literature on the impact of intimate partner violence-related head trauma in men and women. We further provide recommendations for studies examining the effects of intimate partner violence-related head trauma on neuronal, cognitive, and psychological functioning, as well as the influence of genetic variation. We anticipate that the harmonization of measures across studies will increase the statistical power in characterizing how IPV-related head trauma impacts long-term physical and psychological health, as well as in determining the influence of common comorbidities and genetic variation.

ENIGMA brain injury: Framework, challenges, and opportunities

“…1 Establish a collaborative international network of researchers focused on TBI, including neuroimaging, clinical, cognitive, neuro- In addition, each working group has research questions specific to their patient population which are discussed in greater detail in recent papers by each subgroup (Dennis, et al, in press;Esopenko et al, 2019;Koerte et al, 2020;Tate et al, 2019).…”

“…One particular patient population that is understudied includes individuals sustaining head trauma as a result of intimate partner violence (IPV). Although women tend to experience more severe physical trauma than men resulting in a high risk of head injury in IPV, the ENIGMA IPV working group will examine the effects of IPV-related TBI, including the often repetitive nature of the injuries and the multitude of comorbid disorders and polytrauma that may result, in both men and women (Esopenko et al, 2019). Sex differences have become a major topic in TBI and concussion research in recent years, and the ENIGMA Brain Injury working group will contribute to this body of knowledge.…”

“…However, with the development of new subgroups within the Brain Injury Group, our mission is to harmonize both the measures collected and analysis pipelines used across sites. Recently, a number of sub-groups within our Brain Injury group have provided recommendations for specific neuroimaging and neuropsychological measures sensitive to domains impacted by different mechanisms of brain injury (e.g., head trauma associated with intimate partner violence, concussive and subconcussive impacts associated with sports-related concussion, blast injury in military personnel and veterans), age of injury (e.g., pediatric, adult), severity of injury (mild, moderate, and severe TBI), or imaging modality (MRS; Bartnik-Olson et al, in press;Dennis, et al, in press;Esopenko et al, 2019;Koerte et al, 2020;Tate et al, 2019). We also provide recommendations on specific genetic variations that warrant investigation across injury populations.…”

“…For more details on the working groups including more depth regarding population-specific considerations (i.e., blast TBI in military or repetitive impacts in sports) and planned analyses, we refer the interested reader to a recent special issue to be published in Brain Imaging and Behavior (preprints currently available on PsyArxiv; Bartnik-Olson et al, in press;Dennis et al, in press;Esopenko et al, 2019;Koerte et al, 2020;Tate et al, 2019;Wilde, Dennis, & Tate, 2019). Across these working groups, there are currently over 150 collaborators involved from 76 institutions and 13 countries.…”

The ENIGMA sports injury working group:– an international collaboration to further our understanding of sport-related brain injury

“…Wilde, Tate, and Dennis ( Wilde et al 2019 ). The ENIGMA Brain Injury group includes subgroups dedicated to specific populations: pediatric moderate to severe TBI (msTBI ( Dennis et al 2019 )), military-related head injury ( Tate et al 2019 ), intimate partner violence ( Esopenko et al 2019 ), adult msTBI ( Olsen et al 2019 ), and methods, i.e., MR spectroscopy ( Bartnik-Olson et al 2019 ) working groups.…”