Head injuries in intimate partner violence: cognitive, motor, and psychiatric symptoms

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been associated with various adverse health outcomes, and these outcomes may be worse in those experiencing IPV-related head injuries. Cognitive, motor, and psychiatric symptoms associated with these exposures are incompletely understood.

In this cross-sectional survey study, participants completed questionnaires assessing demographics, IPV-related exposure, depression, anxiety, cognitive, and neurobehavioral symptoms. Participants were stratified into groups 1) without IPV history ('controls,' n = 1032), 2) with IPV history without IPV-related head injury ('IPV-only,' n = 163), and 3) with IPV-related head injury ('IPV-HI,' n = 102). ANCOVAs and logistic regressions controlling for age, sex, and race were used for comparison with subsequent pairwise comparisons using Tukey's post-hoc and estimated marginal means.

IPV groups had greater rates of all psychiatric conditions reported, general health problems including sleep difficulties and chronic pain, and motor symptoms (all p < 0.05). Compared to IPV-only, the IPV-HI group reported greater rates of migraines, chronic pain, and suicidal ideation, as well as greater anxiety, cognitive difficulties, and neurobehavioral symptoms (all p < 0.05).

IPV groups reported more health issues than controls, and those with IPV-HI had the greatest rates of general health, cognitive, psychiatric, and neurobehavioral difficulties. These findings provide novel insight into IPV and IPV-related head injury outcomes.