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Routinely screening women for partner violence may not improve health care outcomes

Screening women for partner violence and providing a resource list did not affect hospitalizations, ED visits or outpatient visits, suggesting that the recommendation to screen women of reproductive age for partner violence may be unnecessary.

“The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends women of reproductive age be screened for partner violence. However, others, such as the World Health Organization and the Cochrane Collaborative, conclude there is insufficient evidence for this recommendation,” study researcher Joanne Klevens, MD, PhD, of the CDC, and colleagues wrote.

Joanne Klevens

To assess validity of the partner violence screening recommendation, researchers evaluated 2,700 women who sought care in outpatient health care clinics in Cook County, Illinois, from May 2009 to April 2010. Women (mean age, 38.7 years) were randomly assigned to a computerized partner violence screening with provision of a local resource list, universal provision of a partner violence resource list without screening, or no screening or resource list. Approximately 55% of the study cohort was black and 36.8% were Latina. Use of health services was assessed for 3 years following study enrollment.

Fifteen percent of study participants reported partner violence in the year prior to enrollment.

An adjusted analysis indicated no statistically significant differences between study groups regarding mean number of hospitalizations (adjusted mean difference = 0.2; 95% CI, 0.2-0.3), ED visits (adjusted mean difference = 0.7; 95% CI, 0.4-0.9) or outpatient care visits (adjusted mean difference = 12.2; 95% CI, 10-14.4) during the study period.

These outcomes did not differ among the subgroup of women who reported partner violence in the year before enrollment, according to researchers.

“Screening women for partner violence and providing a resource list did not influence the number of hospitalizations, [ED], or outpatient care visits compared with women only receiving a resource list or receiving no intervention over 3 years. Our data do not support providing a partner violence resource list with or without computerized screening of women in urban health care settings to improve health outcomes,” Klevens and colleagues concluded. – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.