Objective: To examine the relationship between physical violence, controlling behavior, and spontaneous abortion (SAB).
Design: Nested case-control study.
Setting: Emergency department of a university hospital.
Patient(s): One thousand one hundred ninety-nine pregnant women.
Main outcome measurement(s): Physical violence and controlling behavior.
Result(s): Cases experienced a SAB (n = 392) and controls maintained their pregnancy through 22 weeks (n = 807). Fifteen percent of women reported violence during the pregnancy, and 49% had reported one or more past episodes of violence. We found no relationship between any measure of physical violence (past, current, or by perpetrator) and the risk of SAB.
Conclusion(s): Although physical violence was very prevalent in the study population, exposure to violence did not influence the risk of SAB.