Intimate partner violence during the perinatal period by disability status: Findings from a United States population-based analysis.

The IPV measure was retrospective self-report and asked only about being hit, slapped, choked or physically hurt by a husband or partner, so it may miss psychological and sexual violence. The measure did not capture disability-specific abuse such as restraint, withholding equipment, medications, transportation or help with daily needs, which the authors say may mean the differences are underestimated. Perpetrators were limited to husband or partner, but women with disabilities may also experience violence from caregivers, health care professionals, transport drivers, friends or family members. Disability was measured by self-report difficulty questions, with a lot of difficulty or cannot do coded as disability, so the type and severity of disability may be incomplete. Only 24 states asked the disability questions, some batches were excluded, and complete case analysis removed missing responses, including 406 missing IPV before pregnancy and 458 missing IPV during pregnancy. Results are from US respondents with recent live births and may not generalise to other countries or to people without recent live births.

Do not read the higher prevalence as proof that disability causes IPV or that screening improves safety. The study is a self-report survey, and its question may miss psychological, sexual and disability-specific violence.