Panorama of intimate partner violence against women in Brazil and its association with self-perception of health: findings from a national representative survey

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to describe the prevalence of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and its subtypes against adult women in Brazil, as well as their health consequences, and the use of health services resulting from IPV. We also investigated the association of IPV with self-perceived health in victimized women. Methods: Cross-sectional study including 34,334 women aged 18 to 59 years from the 2019 Brazilian National Health Survey. For the analyses, the prevalence of IPV and its types in the last 12 months, health consequences, and use of health services by these women were calculated. Logistic regression models were performed to estimate the association of sociodemographic characteristics and self-perceived health status with IPV. Results: The prevalence of IPV against Brazilian adult women in the last twelve months was 7.6% (95% CI: [7.0; 8.2]). Women aged 18 to 39 years, living with a partner, single or divorced, with complete high school or incomplete higher education and income of up to 1 minimum wage, had higher odds of suffer IPV. As health consequences, approximately 69% of the women who suffered IPV reported psychological consequences. Among those who reported health consequences, 13.9% sought health care, mainly in primary or secondary health care in the Brazilian Public Unified Health System (SUS) (41.9%). Regarding the self-perceived health variables, women who reported eating problems (OR=1.29; 95% CI [1.01; 1.65]), lack of interest/absence of pleasure (OR=1.41; 95% CI [1.11; 1.79]), depressive feeling (OR=1.39; 95% CI [1.03; 1.88]), feeling of failure (OR=1.75; 95% CI [1.36; 2.24]) and suicidal thinking (OR=1.73; 95% CI [1.25; 2.41]) had greater odds of reporting IPV, when compared to those who did not report these same perceptions. Conclusion: The results show that younger, divorced or single, low-income women with eating and mental health problems were more likely to suffer IPV. IPV often led to health problems, and many abused women sought support from public health services due to IPV. Therefore, health professionals must be trained to identify and care for these women, thereby acting as allies in preventing and reducing violence against women in Brazil.