Rates of hospital visits for assault during pregnancy and the year postpartum: timing matters

Abstract

Objective: To clarify the risk of violence for women during pregnancy and the first year postpartum, we examined the timing of hospital visits for assault among a population cohort of women in Massachusetts.

Methods: Using linked natality and hospital data from 2001 through 2007 for Massachusetts, we examined the timing of hospital (i.e., emergency, inpatient, and observation) visits for maternal assault during seven time periods: the three prenatal trimesters and four three-month postpartum periods. To describe the risk of assault for each of the time periods, we calculated the rate as the number of such visits per 100,000 person-weeks. We used the denominator of 100,000 person-weeks to adjust for variable lengths of gestation and for postpartum periods shortened by subsequent pregnancies.

Results: Rates of hospital visits for maternal assault were highest in the first trimester and lowest in the third trimester, with rates of 16.0 and 5.8 per 100,000 person-weeks, respectively. The four postpartum period rates were higher than the third trimester rate but never reached the levels observed in the first and second trimesters.

Conclusions: These findings suggest a changing rate for assault visits during each prenatal trimester and postpartum period. In addition, the importance of violence prevention strategies as part of women's health care across the life span and the need for preconception care initiatives are reaffirmed.