Intimate partner violence and reduced dietary iron and vitamin A intake: a population analysis of nationally representative data from eight low- and middle-income countries.

OBJECTIVE

This research provides the first population-based investigation of intimate partner violence (IPV) and women's dietary intake of iron and Vitamin A-rich foods using representative data from eight low- and middle-income countries.

DESIGN

Using multivariable logistic regression, we estimated the relationship between various forms of past year IPV (physical, emotional and sexual) and consumption of Vitamin A and iron-rich foods.

SETTING

We conducted secondary data analysis of cross-sectional demographic and health surveys from Cambodia (2021, 5640), Nepal (2022, 4179), Sierra Leone (2019, 3812), Nigeria (2018, 8313), Tajikistan (2017, 4800), Cote D'Ivoire (2021, 3656), Kenya (2022, 10 758) and the Philippines (2022, 12 278).

PARTICIPANTS

Women of reproductive age (15-49 years) comprised the analytical sample.

RESULTS

Results revealed distinct relationship patterns between various IPV forms and women's dietary consumption of micronutrient-rich foods. The most consistent relationships being that past year (i) sexual IPV (adjusted OR (aOR): 0·72, 95 % CI: 0·53, 0·98), (ii) physical IPV (aOR: 0·86, 95 % CI: 0·73, 1·01) and (iii) emotional IPV (aOR: 0·81, 95 % CI: 0·70, 0·94) significantly the odds of consuming iron-rich foods in the pooled analyses. Due to between-country heterogeneity concerning the relationship between IPV and Vitamin A, pooled estimates for dietary vitamin A consumption were non-significant. However, in the Philippines, IPV was associated with reduced dietary Vitamin A intake.

CONCLUSIONS

IPV is associated with altered dietary intake patterns and between-country differences could be due to different food environments. Mechanisms explaining our findings may involve consequences of IPV that impact diet and dietary practices: depression, control of resources and physical trauma.