Violence against women in life: study among Primary Care users

Abstract This article aims to estimate the prevalence and factors associated with intimate partner violence among primary care users. Cross-sectional study with women aged 20 to 59 years. Physical, sexual and psychological violence was screened by the World Health Organization instrument. Poisson regression was used for crude and adjusted analysis. Nine hundred ninety-one women participated in the study. The prevalence of violence throughout the lifespan was: psychological 57.6% (95%CI 54.6-60.7); physical 39.3% (95%CI 36.2-42.3) and sexual 18.0% (95%CI 15.7-20.5). Women with up to eight years of schooling, divorced or separated, whose mothers suffered intimate partner violence, who reported drug use and experienced sexual violence in childhood showed a higher prevalence of the three types of violence. Religion was associated with psychological and sexual violence and the use of cigarettes to physical and psychological violence. Participants with lower household income had a higher prevalence of physical violence. A high prevalence of intimate partner violence was identified among users. Worse socioeconomic conditions, risk behaviors and a history of assault are associated with greater occurrence of this problem.