Incidence of Violence Against HIV-Infected and Uninfected Women: Findings from the HIV Epidemiology Research (HER) Study

ABSTRACT The effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on the inci-dence of violence against women was addressed in a prospective cohort of HIV-infected and uninfected women. Participants were enrolled between 1993 and 1995 in four US cities and followed up semiannually through 1998. Among 1,087 women with a total accrual of 2,988 person-years (PY) of follow-up, there were 185 reports of abuse (incidence rate = 6.19 per 100 PY). The rate of abuse among HIV-infected women with a CD4+ count less than 350 cells/µL was lower than that among HIV-infected women with more CD4+ cells/µL or among uninfected women (4.87, 6.92, and 6.44 per 100 PY, respectively). In multivariate analysis, being separated or di-vorced, having a history of abuse in adulthood, using marijuana, using crack, and having multiple sex partners were each significantly associated with an elevated abuse rate; being older was inversely associated with abuse. Among HIV-infected women, those with fewer CD4+ cells/µL continued to show a decreased abuse rate (hazard ratio = 0.55, 95 % CI = 0.36, 0.82) after adjustment for these factors. It is important to complement existing and future HIV prevention and intervention strategies with efforts to reduce violence against women