The Birth-Weight/Battering Connection

Abstract

This paper presents a random study of postpartum women aged 18 years or older to examine the correlation of low birth weight (LBW) with female physical abuse. A total of 589 women in both private and public hospital were interviewed on the demographic information to explore womans history of battering to uncover verbal abuse and threats of physical abuse and to find out whether the woman smokes or had used alcohol during pregnancy. Findings revealed that significantly more LBW infants were born to battered women (12.5%) than to nonbattered women (6.6%). At the private hospital 17.5% of battered women had LBW infants while at the public hospital the LBW rate was slightly higher among battered women. However the difference was not statistically different. Alcohol consumption was reportedly less in public patients than among the private patients. Battered women did smoke more than the nonbattered women in both hospital settings but found no significant association of smoking itself with LBW deliveries. From the study it was found out that there is a correlation between battering and LBW.

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