[Domestic violence: an approach from gynecology and obstetrics]

Violence against women represents a serious violation of women's human rights and has been recognized as a clinical and public health problem, independently of nationality, ethnicity, cultural norms and socioeconomic status. One of the most common forms of violence against women is that perpetrated by an intimate male partner. The intimate partner violence has short-term and long-term negative health consequences, which provoke a poor quality of life with high use of health services, and even the suicide and homicide of women. Specifically, abuse during pregnancy is associated with sexually transmitted diseases, anemia, first and second trimester bleeding, less than optimal weight gain, deleterious perinatal outcomes (low birth weight, miscarriage, and fetal distress) and maternal or infant deaths. The purpose of this review is to emphasize the serious health consequences of the partner violence, and to compile the studies that have measured violence during pregnancy, particularly in Latin America.