Article Text
Abstract
Background There is a dearth of research investigating sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in children exposed to family and domestic violence (FDV). Further, there is no research on terminations of pregnancy in children exposed to FDV.
Methods This retrospective cohort study used linked administrative data from Western Australia to investigate whether exposure to FDV is associated with a risk of hospitalisations for STIs and terminations of pregnancy in adolescents. This study involved children born from 1987 to 2010 whose mother was a victim of FDV. Identification of family and domestic violence was from two sources: police and hospital records. This approach provided an exposed cohort of 16 356 and a non-exposed cohort of 41 996. Dependant variables were hospitalisations for pregnancy terminations and STIs in children aged from 13 up to 18 years of age. The primary explanatory variable was exposure to FDV. Multivariable Cox regression was used to investigate the association of FDV exposure and the outcomes.
Results Following adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical factors, children exposed to FDV had an increased risk of hospitalisations for STIs (HR 1.49, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.92) and terminations of pregnancy (HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.63) as an adolescent than non-exposed peers.
Conclusion Children exposed to FDV are at an increased risk of hospitalisation for STI and termination of pregnancy as an adolescent. Effective interventions are needed to support children exposed to FDV.
- sexual health
- sexually transmitted diseases
- abortion, therapeutic
- adolescent
Data availability statement
Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the terms of the ethics approval granted by the Department of Health Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee and data disclosure policies of the Data Providers. The datasets may be available from the Western Australia Data Linkage Branch at dataservices@health.wa.gov.au and subject to the approval from the Department of Health Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee and relevant custodians.
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Data availability statement
Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to the terms of the ethics approval granted by the Department of Health Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee and data disclosure policies of the Data Providers. The datasets may be available from the Western Australia Data Linkage Branch at dataservices@health.wa.gov.au and subject to the approval from the Department of Health Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee and relevant custodians.
Footnotes
Contributors CO conceptualised the study. Analysis was carried out by CO. The manuscript was drafted by CO. All authors contributed to the review and editing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. CO is responsible for the overall content as guarantor.
Funding Carol Orr was supported by a Stan Perron Charitable Foundation Grant. Carol Orr, Rebecca Glauert and David Preen were supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant #LP190100968.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the Methods section for further details.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
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