Domestic Abuse Triggers Increased Risk of Atopic Diseases

According to new research, women who have experienced domestic abuse are more likely to develop atopic disorders such as asthma.
Today’s issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In practice, the University of Birmingham-led study discovered that a much higher percentage of women with atopic disorders and a history of domestic abuse and violence were exposed to domestic abuse and violence than those who were not.

Dr. Joht Singh Chandan from the University of Birmingham and corresponding author of the study said, “After adjusting for possible cofounders, our results show women with a recorded exposure to domestic violence and abuse had a 52% increased risk of developing atopic diseases,”

“Domestic violence and abuse is a global issue that disproportionately affects women. We set out to deepen our understanding of the health impacts of domestic violence so evidence-based public health policies can be further developed to address not only domestic violence but secondary effects like the development of atopic diseases.”

The researchers conducted a retrospective open cohort analysis in the United Kingdom, comparing adult women (aged 18 and older) with a physician-recorded experience to domestic violence to women over 18 who had no recorded exposure. Patients who had previously reported atopic disease were excluded from the trial.

A total of 13,852 women were identified as having been exposed to domestic abuse and matched with 49,036 similar women who had not been exposed. Atopic illness was detected in 967/13,852 women in the exposed group (incidence rate (IR) 20.10 per 1,000 py) compared to 2,607/49,036 in the unexposed group (IR 13.24 per 1,000 py).

The study had some drawbacks. Women in the exposed group were more likely than women in the unexposed group to be current smokers. The database sometimes lacked ethnicity data, and the median follow-up for both groups of women was rather brief given the recurrent nature of atopic disease. Researchers expect that future studies will resolve these shortcomings.

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