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. 2025 Oct 31;25(1):528.
doi: 10.1186/s12905-025-04078-3.

Risk factors for perinatal intimate partner violence: a global systematic review and meta-analyses

Le Chen  1   2 , Norhasmah Mohd Zain  3 , Qin Qin  4 , Raishan Shafini Bakar  5 , Pan Li  1 , Afang Li  1
Affiliations

Risk factors for perinatal intimate partner violence: a global systematic review and meta-analyses

Le Chen et al. BMC Womens Health. .

Abstract

Background: Perinatal intimate partner violence (IPV) is highly prevalent in different regions worldwide. However, there is still insufficient systematic evidence on the risk factors for perinatal IPV across various regions and socioeconomic levels, which presents challenges in developing targeted prevention programs. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analyses was to identify the risk factors for perinatal IPV across various regions and socioeconomic levels worldwide.

Methods: A comprehensive systematic literature search was conducted across multiple electronic databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science, encompassing all available studies from each database’s inception date to June 2024. Potential risk of bias in the included studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal checklists. Subgroup analyses were also performed by region and level of economic development.

Results: A total of 83 studies were included in the review, involving 1,609,201 participants, of whom 90,479 (5.6%) experienced perinatal IPV. For the type of violence, 64 studies reported overall IPV, 21 reported physical violence, 12 reported psychological violence, and 10 reported sexual violence. The meta-analyses showed that major risk factors for these types of violence included woman’s education level, woman’s working status, pregnancy intention, social or family support, partner’s education level, and partner’s alcohol consumption. However, some factors varied across different regions and levels of economic development, suggesting contextual influences on risk factors for perinatal IPV.

Conclusions: This is a comprehensive review on the risk factors for perinatal IPV across regions with varying levels of economic development. These factors vary across different regions and economic contexts. In high-income countries, IPV is more commonly associated with mental health status and addictive behaviors, while in middle- and low-income countries, it is primarily associated with low education levels, economic dependence, and partner’s risk behaviors. This finding highlights the necessity of fully considering contextual factors in future risk assessments for perinatal IPV and establishing corresponding prevention and intervention strategies.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12905-025-04078-3.

Keywords: Global; Intimate partner violence; Physical violence; Risk factors; Systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA 2020 flow diagram
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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