Maternal Experience of Domestic Violence, Associations with Children’s Lipid Biomarkers at 10 Years: Findings from MINIMat Study in Rural Bangladesh

The consequences of maternal experience of Domestic Violence (DV) on their children’s cardio-metabolic risk factors are unclear. We aimed to assess if maternal exposure to any or a specific form of DV (i.e., physical, sexual, emotional and controlling behaviors) before and after childbirth was associated with their children’s lipid biomarkers at the age of 10 years. A current observational sub-study of a larger MINIMat trial included a cohort of 1167 mothers and their children. The conflict tactic scale was used to record women’s experience of lifetime DV before and after childbirth at week 30 of pregnancy and at a 10-year follow up, respectively. Five ml of fasting blood sample was collected from the children to evaluate their lipid profile. Children of women who experienced any DV before childbirth had lower Apo A (β(adj) −0.04; 95% CI: −0.08, −0.01). Women who experienced physical DV both before and after childbirth had children with higher triglycerides (β(adj) 0.07; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.14). Children whose mother experienced sexual DV before birth had lower Apo A (β(adj) −0.05; 95% CI: −0.08, −0.01) and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) (β(adj) −0.05; 95% CI: −0.10, −0.01) as well as higher Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) (β(adj) 0.17; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.29) and LDL/HDL (β 0.24; 95% CI: 0.11, 0.38). However, levels of LDL (β(adj) −0.17; 95% CI: −0.28, −0.06), LDL/HDL (β(adj) −0.12; 95% CI: −0.25, −0.00) and cholesterol (β(adj) −0.13; 95% CI: −0.25, −0.02) were lower among the children of mothers who experienced controlling behavior after childbirth. Results from the current study suggest that maternal experience of physical or sexual DV might negatively affect their children’s lipid profile at the age of 10 years.