[Physical abuse of women]

Our aim was determine prevalence of intrafamily violence of the type physical-abuse, toward female claimants aged 18 years and older at the HGZ MF No. 1 in Colima.

A transversal study was conducted in 288 females aged 18 years and older who were seen at the Family Medicine Unit for external consultation.

Average age was 33.86 years (+/- 11.6), the highest level of schooling was primary for 33% of subjects and secondary for 26%, 75% of our female claimants were divorced, 53.5% of monthly family incomes in each household was between 1,000 and 3,000 thousand Mexican pesos, and 27.8% of physical abuse consisted of shoving.

Our research revealed that there is indeed physical violence toward 63.45% of female claimants at our hospital, especially toward those with low level of schooling, low socioeconomic status, and monthly income below minimum wage. These conditions only contribute toward making women fall prey to physical violence. Our study is only a first step for better understanding of domestic violence. Risk factors associated with physical abuse need to be controlled to decrease rate of interfamily violence against our claimants.