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Violence against pregnant women: prevalence and characteristics. A population-based study in Nicaragua Eliette Valladares,a Rodolfo Peña,a Lars Åke Persson,b Ulf Högbergc Objective This study aims to estimate the prevalence and characteristics of partner abuse during pregnancy as well as to investigate associated social factors in León, Nicaragua. Design Cross-sectional community-based study. Setting All pregnant women from 50 randomly selected geographical clusters out of 208 in the munici-pality of León, Nicaragua. Sample A total of 478 pregnant women were included; only one woman refused to participate. Method The domestic violence questionnaire from the WHO-co-ordinated Multi-Country Study on Women’s Health and Life Events was used with each participant being interviewed twice during pregnancy. Main outcome measures Prevalence and characteristics of partner violence during pregnancy. Results The prevalence of emotional, physical and sexual abuse during pregnancy was 32.4%, 13.4 % and 6.7%, respectively. Seventeen percent reported experience of all three forms of violence. Two-thirds of the victims reported repeated abuse. Half of the abused women had experienced punches and kick