Abuse of moms stunts kid's growth

Children of abused mothers may be smaller at birth and show stunted early growth.

Violence against women causes serious long-term physical and mental health consequences for women all over the world. Prior studies have shown that physical and sexual violence against women is associated with pregnancy complications, low birth weight of the offspring, as well as an increased risk of early infant death.

To assess whether different forms of family violence against women were associated with impaired size at birth and early childhood growth, researchers from Sweden determined the birth weight of 3,164 children in rural Bangladesh and followed their early growth patterns until they were 2 years old. Their mothers - 4,436 altogether - were mostly married, not employed and were 26 years old on average, at the start of the study. 

Half of the mothers reported being a victim of some sort of family violence during their lives. Fourteen percent experienced physical violence that involved slapping or shoving and 8 percent suffered more severe violence such as hitting, kicking, dragging, or choking. Eight percent of the women experienced severe violence while pregnant. Additionally, 24 percent of the women reported some sort of sexual abuse, and another 28 percent said they had been insulted, humiliated, intimidated, or experienced other emotional abuse.

At birth, the average weight of the children in the study was 2701 grams (about 6 pounds). Overall, 33 percent were considered low birth weight, weighing less than 2500 grams (5.5 pounds) at birth.

Children of mothers with lifetime experience of any form of family violence were smaller in body size at birth and at every monthly home visit up to 24 months of age, in comparison with children of non-abused mother. At 24 months the proportion of underweight was 41.9%, wasting 13.3% and stunting 55.5% among children of mothers exposed to any form of lifetime family violence, as compared with 37.0% underweight, 11.3% wasting and 49.8% stunting among children of non-abused mothers. Moreover, lifetime physical, sexual and emotional violence and a high level of controlling behaviour inmarriage, respectively,were associated with low birthweight, and also independently associated with lower weight-for-age and height-for-age scores at 24 months of age. Furthermore, children of mothers with lifetime violence experience also had slower growth velocity during this period.

The researchers state that this is the first study on the topic in which a community-based sample of women has been followed-up for 2 years. Their findings suggest that beside a multitude of health consequences caused by violence against women, this also impacts children born to such women as they have a smaller size at birth and show growth impairment in early childhood.