Intimate partner violence and current tobacco smoking in low- to middle-income countries : individual participant meta-analysis of 231,892 women of reproductive age

Research on the health impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) has primarily focused on gynaecological and sexual health outcomes or psychiatric disorders. Much less is known about the association between IPV and tobacco smoking among women of reproductive age in low- to middle-income countries. This study examines the association between exposure to IPV and current tobacco smoking among women of reproductive age from low- to middle-income countries. We used data from Demographic and Health Surveys from 29 countries (231,892 women, aged 15–49) to examine the association between exposure to IPV and current tobacco smoking. Data were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. There was a significant association between IPV and current tobacco smoking (pooled adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.58; 95% CI: 1.38–1.79) after controlling for age, education, occupation, household wealth, religion and pregnancy status across countries. The association was moderately consistent across the 29 countries (I2 = 55.3%, p < 0.0001). These findings suggest that exposure to IPV is associated with an increased likelihood of current tobacco smoking among women of reproductive age in low- to middle-income countries. Future research on the association between exposure to IPV and tobacco smoking in prospective cohort studies is warranted