Association of Intimate Partner Violence and Nutritional Status of Women (aged 15-49 years) in West Bengal, India

Background: Violence against women- especially Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and sexual violence is one of the major public health problems in both developing and developed countries. The aim of the present study was to investigate IPV and nutritional status of women ages 15-49 years in West Bengal, India. Methods: We used National Family Health Survey data, 2015-2016 of West Bengal, India. 1981 sample was used for the present study. Nutritional status was measured by Body Mass Index (BMI) and anemia. IPV included physical, emotional and sexual violence with or without controlled behavior. Other socio economic and demographic factors like educational attainments, age of the respondent, occupation, caste, religion, wealth index, residential pattern etc. were considered in this study for possible predictors of IPV. Results: The study revealed that prevalence of underweight and anemia among women in West Bengal, India was 20% and 20.1% respectively. More prevalence of underweight and anemia were observed among women who were exposed to physical, emotional and sexual violence by their intimate partner. Though we did not find any significant association of IPV and nutritional status, however a significant association was found between educational attainment and IPV. Study revealed that chances of underweight and anemia among women decreased with increased educational level of women. Respondents belonging in rich family were more likely to have better health status among women in West Bengal. No significant association was found between anemic status of women and their age, educational attainment and occupation. However, logistic regression model demonstrated that Muslim and other women were more likely to have anemia than Hindu women. Conclusion: The study concluded that IPV played an important role in increasing likelihood of women’s nutritional and anemic status. The study also showed that some socio-economic and demographic factors were predictors of women’s nutritional and anemic status. Our findings can help government and NGOs for taking health policy to improve the health status of women aged 15-49 years.