Abstract
Background: Domestic violence is described as any behavior by a current or former spouse that causes physical, emotional, or sexual harm. Women are more often susceptible to domestic violence. According to the World Health Organization, domestic violence affects one in every three women over their lifetime. This study aimed to estimate the effect of domestic violence on the risk of postpartum depression.
Subjects and Method: This was a meta-analysis conducted by following the PRISMA diagram and research questions formulated in PICO format. Population: Postpartum mothers. Intervention: Domestic violence. Comparison: No domestic violence. Outcome: Postpartum depression. PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Scopus were searched for published cross-sectional studies. Keywords used include: “domestic violence” OR “intimate partner violence” AND “Depression” AND “Post Partum”. Data of adjusted odds ratio from cross-sectional studies were calculated using Revman 5.3.
Results: The meta-analysis included 9 cross-sectional studies from Malaysia, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia. The total sample was 10,628 postpartum mothers. Domestic violence increased the risk of depression in postpartum mothers (aOR= 3.87; 95% ci= 3.06 to 4.89; p< 0.001).
Conclusion: Domestic violence increases the risk of depression in postpartum mothers