Intimate partner violence and associated factors among pregnant women in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) during pregnancy is a serious public health concern globally. Within Sub-Saharan Africa nearly 40% of women reported abuse by their intimate partners. In Ethiopia, study findings regarding prevalence and associated factors of IPV among pregnant women have been inconsistently reported and highly variable. Thus, this systematic review and meta-analysis estimates the pooled prevalence of IPV and associated factors among pregnant women in Ethiopia. METHODS: International databases (i.e., PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and the Cochrane Library) were systematically searched during the period of January 1 to February 13, 2018. All identified observational studies reporting the prevalence of IPV and associated factors among pregnant women in Ethiopia were considered. Two authors (AA and CT) independently extracted all necessary data using a standardized data extraction format. Extracted quantitative data were analyzed using STATA Version 13. Heterogeneity among the included studies was assessed through the Cochrane Q test statistics and I(2) test. Finally, a random effects meta-analysis model was computed to estimate the pooled prevalence of IPV. Associations between factors and IPV were also examined using a random effects model. RESULTS: After reviewing 605 studies, eight studies involving 2691 pregnant women fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were included in this meta-analysis. The findings of these eight studies revealed that a 26.1% (95% CI: 20, 32.3) overall prevalence of IPV among pregnant women in Ethiopia. The subgroup analysis of this study further revealed the highest observed prevalence was in Oromia region (35%), followed by Amhara region (29%). Mothers‘educational status (OR: 2.1, 95% CI: 1.1, 3.7), intimate partners’ educational status (OR: 3.5, 95%CI: 1.4, 8.5), and intimate partners’ alcohol use (OR: 11.4, 95%CI: 2.3, 56.6) were significantly associated with IPV among pregnant women. CONCLUSION: This study found that the prevalence of IPV among pregnant women in Ethiopia was quite common; with slightly more than 1 in 4, pregnant women experienced IPV during pregnancy. Mothers’ educational status, intimate partners’ educational status, and intimate partners’ alcohol use were factors significantly associated with IPV among pregnant women. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12978-018-0637-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.