© 2004 American Public Health Association
Charles P. Mouton, Melissa A. Talamantes, and Sandra K. Burge are with the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Robert G. Brzyski is with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Rebecca J. Rodabough and Julie L. Hunt are with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle. Susan L. D. Rovi is with the Department of Family Medicine, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New JerseyNew Jersey Medical School, Newark. Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Charles P. Mouton, MD, MS, Department of Family and Community Medicine, UTHSCSA, 7703 Floyd Curl Dr, San Antonio, TX 78229-7795 (e-mail: mouton{at}uthscsa.edu).
Objectives. We examined prevalence, 3-year incidence, and predictors of physical and verbal abuse among postmenopausal women. Methods. We used a cohort of 91 749 women aged 50 to 79 years from the Womens Health Initiative. Outcomes included self-reported physical abuse and verbal abuse. Results. At baseline, 11.1% reported abuse sometime during the prior year, with 2.1% reporting physical abuse only, 89.1% reporting verbal abuse only, and 8.8% reporting both physical and verbal abuse. Baseline prevalence was associated with service occupations, having lower incomes, and living alone. At 3-year follow-up, 5.0% of women reported new abuse, with 2.8% reporting physical abuse only, 92.6% reporting verbal abuse only, and 4.7% reporting both physical and verbal abuse. Conclusions. Postmenopausal women are exposed to abuse at similar rates to younger women; this abuse poses a serious threat to their health.
Abuse, including physical, sexual, financial, or psychological mistreatment, is a serious problem for adults aged 65 years and older.1 According to the National Elder Abuse Incidence Study, approximately 450 000 older adults in domestic settings were abused, neglected, or both during 1996.2 This number increases to approximately 551 000 when older adults who experienced self-neglect are included. In a population-based survey of metropolitan Boston, Pillemer and Finkelhor found a rate of elder abuse of 3.2%.3 In the long-term care setting, 23% of older adults either have been or still are victims of abuse.46 The public health implications of abuse are its associations with premature mortality and morbidity.713 Lachs and colleagues found that among older adults who were victims of abuse, only 9% were alive 2 years later compared with 40% of older adults who had not been abused.11 Other studies have found a risk of death for older abuse victims that is 3 times higher than for nonvictims.12,13 The direct medical costs associated with these violent injuries are estimated to add over $5.3 billion to the nations annual health expenditures (K. Fullin et al., unpublished data, 1994). Gender is an important factor in abuse exposure. Worldwide, between 10% and 50% of women report being physically assaulted at some point in their adult lives; 14% to 25% of women seen at ambulatory medical clinics and 20% of women seen in emergency departments have been physically abused.710 Older, postmenopausal women (65 years or older) are more likely than older men to be the victims of all forms of abuse, except for abandonment, even when taking into account the fact that they make up a larger proportion of the aging population.3,4,14,15 While females made up about 57.6% of the total national population aged 65 years and older in 2000, women were the victims in 76.3% of reports of emotional or psychological abuse, 71.4% of physical abuse, 63.0% of financial or material exploitation, and 60.0% of neglect.2 Women in the early postmenopausal ages (aged 5065 years) are exposed to abuse by intimate partners at a rate of 0.5 per 1000 and account for 30% of homicides committed by an intimate partner.16 Cognitive or physical impairment, or both, is an additional factor in abuse exposure. In a study of mortality due to mistreatment of elders, over 85% of victims of elder abuse had some impairment of their activities of daily living.2,11 Unfortunately, most studies examining the associations with abuse exposure have focused on younger women in their childbearing years or on frail, functionally dependent older adults. To date, no study has examined the associations with physical and verbal abuse in functionally independent, cognitively intact, older women. We conducted this study to (1) describe the 1-year baseline prevalence and 3-year incidence of physical and verbal abuse in a cohort of functionally independent older women and (2) examine the sociodemographic factors and health behaviors associated with this prevalence and incidence of abuse.
Subjects We analyzed survey responses from 93 205 women enrolled in the observational study arm of the Womens Health Initiative (WHI). The study design of the WHI and its observational study arm has been described in detail previously.17 In brief, the WHI is a large, multicenter study with 2 components, an observation study and a clinical trial. Postmenopausal women, aged 50 to 79 years old at baseline, were recruited through targeted mass mailings to voter registration lists, vehicle registration lists, and drivers license lists and invited to participate in the clinical trial. Subjects who were eligible and interested enrolled in 1 or more of the 3 WHI clinical trials: (1) hormone replacement therapy to prevent cardiovascular disease, (2) a low-fat, high-fiber diet to prevent breast and colorectal cancer, and (3) calcium and vitamin D to prevent osteoporosis-related fractures. Subjects who were ineligible or unwilling to participate in the clinical trials were invited to participate in the observational study, a longitudinal study of health outcomes. In general, women were ineligible for any clinical trial if they had a medical condition with a predicted survival of less than 3 years, cancer within the last 10 years, or dementia rendering them unable to answer study questions. Women were excluded from the hormone replacement therapy clinical trial study if they were taking hormone replacement therapy and were unwilling to stop use. Women were ineligible for the low-fat diet clinical trial study if they had a baseline body mass index of less than 18 kg/m2 or if they consumed more than 6000 kcal per day. Women were ineligible for the vitamin D/calcium clinical trial study if they had a history of an osteoporosisrelated fracture or medical contraindications to taking study medication. All observational study participants completed several study questionnaires at the time of enrollment, including questions about abuse in the previous year. Three years after enrollment, participants were scheduled for a follow-up clinic visit and administered the same study questionnaires. To determine the occurrence of physical abuse at baseline, the following question was asked: "Over the past year, were you physically abused by being hit, slapped, pushed, shoved, punched or threatened with a weapon by a family member or close friend?" Subjects could choose from the following responses: (1) no, (2) yes, and it upset me not too much, (3) yes, and it upset me moderately (medium), or (4) yes, and it upset me very much. We classified women who answered yes (responses 24) as having been exposed to physical abuse. To determine the occurrence of verbal abuse at baseline, the following question was asked: "Over the past year, were you verbally abused by being made fun of, severely criticized, told you were a stupid or worthless person, or threatened with harm to yourself, your possessions, or your pets, by a family member or close friend?" Subjects could chose from the following responses: (1) no, (2) yes, and it upset me not too much, (3) yes, and it upset me moderately (medium), or (4) yes, and it upset me very much. We classified women who answered yes (responses 24) as having been exposed to verbal abuse. Women who fell into either the physical or verbal abuse categories at baseline determined the exposure group for our abuse prevalence estimates. Using these questions, women were screened for physical and verbal abuse again 3 years after enrollment. Women who responded no at baseline but who answered yes 3 years after enrollment determined our 3-year incidence estimates of abuse. Any woman who screened positive for physical or verbal abuse at baseline or follow-up was given information about the Domestic Violence Hotline, self-help information about domestic violence, and information about the nearest battered womens shelter. They were also urged to seek help from adult protective services and receive psychological counseling for domestic violence. Responses to these abuse questions determined 3 mutually exclusive variables: physical abuse only, verbal abuse only, and physical and verbal abuse. These 3 variables became our main outcomes of interest. Our baseline predictor variables included age, race/ethnicity, occupation, marital status, income, education, smoking, alcohol intake, and living arrangement. These predictor variables were chosen on the basis of previous literature suggesting an association of sociodemographics (age, race/ethnicity, education, occupation, and income) and health behaviors (smoking and alcohol use) with elder abuse and intimate partner violence.1820
Data Analysis We considered abuse to be the outcome variable and our sociodemographic and health behavior variables to be covariates. Two sets of multivariate regression models were developed for both baseline abuse prevalence data and 3-year abuse incidence data. Complete case analysis was used for all modeling and all explanatory variables were kept in each model, regardless of statistical significance. Thus, estimates of odds ratios for each predictor variable were adjusted for all other variables in the model. Continuous variables were included as linear covariates and categorical variables as indicator levels. Logistic regression models were developed to examine the association of study covariates with each level of abuse status versus no abuse (i.e., a separate model for each level of abuse vs no abuse). All analyses were performed with the SAS System, Version 8 (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC).
Of the 91 749 subjects responding to survey questions on abuse at baseline, 10 199 (11.1%) reported exposure to abuse within the preceding 12 months. Most women in our sample were non-Hispanic White (82.9%), well educated (40.3% had at least a college degree), and married (64.9%) (Table 1
Of the 10 199 women exposed to abuse, 218 women (2.1%) were exposed to physical abuse only, 9083 (89.1%) to verbal abuse only, and 898 (8.8%) to physical and verbal abuse sometime during the year before the baseline interview. Exposure to abuse was associated with being in the younger age cohort (<58 years), being of non-White race/ethnicity, having less than a high school education, having a family income of less than $20 000, being divorced or separated, being a past or current smoker, and drinking more than 1 drink per week (all P values < .01) (Table 1
The associations with exposure to physical abuse at baseline only, after control for other covariates, are shown in Table 2
Table 2 For women reporting both physical and verbal abuse, those in the older age categories were less likely to report abuse at baseline than women aged 50 to 58 years, as were women who were never married, were widowed, or lived alone. Ethnic minority women, those with incomes of less than $75 000, those employed in service-type jobs, and those who were current smokers were more likely to report both physical and verbal abuse.
Of the 48 522 women with follow-up data at year 3 and who reported no exposure to domestic violence at baseline, 2431 women (5.01%) reported exposure to abuse at their follow-up visit 3 years later. Of these 2431 women, 67 (2.8%) reported physical abuse only, 2250 (92.6%) verbal abuse only, and 114 (4.7%) both physical and verbal abuse (Table 3
The associations with 3-year incident exposure to physical and verbal abuse, after control for other covariates, are demonstrated in Table 4
In this study, we found that many functionally independent, older women are exposed to physical and verbal abuse. Our finding that 1.2% of the women in our self-selected, postmenopausal cohort were physically abused is similar to the prevalence estimates reported in other population-based surveys.2123 However, our finding that 10% of women reported verbal abuse is 3 to 10 times higher than population-based results showing a 1.1% to 3.2% prevalence of verbal abuse.2124 These findings suggest that even for nondependent older women, physical and verbal abuse is occurring at rates similar to, or higher than, those for younger women. Perhaps more importantly, we found that 3.7 per 1000 older women reported new exposure to physical abuse and 46 per 1000 older women reported becoming new victims of verbal abuse. This result compares with population estimates that show the annual incidence of abuse ranging from 735 000 to 2 million out of an estimated 31 million older women.24 To our knowledge, our findings are the first estimate of incidence of physical and verbal abuse in a large sample of postmenopausal women. Exposure to abuse among these postmenopausal women is associated with younger age and lower income. These findings are comparable to data in intimate partner abuse research but contrast with elder abuse data. Studies demonstrate that victims of intimate partner abuse are more likely to be younger than 35 years old, not to be college educated, and to have lower socioeconomic status.11,18,19,2528 Studies on abuse among older adults, however, show that advanced age (>75 years old), functional dependency, shared living arrangement, social isolation, depression, personality disorder, cognitive impairment, and excessive use of drugs or alcohol place an older adult at risk for abuse.20,28 The discrepancies between our findings and previous research with regard to age and living situation may be related to the fact that all the women in our sample were functionally independent. Given the high level of physical functioning in our sample, it is unlikely that abuse by caregivers, neglect, or self-neglect was a predominate cause of abuse in our study. By focusing on the frail elderly, most of the previous research on the abuse of older adults was influenced by issues of caregiver abuse and neglect. These findings suggest that there is a transition in abuse risk factors for women as they age. If a woman remains functionally independent, the risk factors for abuse mirror those for intimate partner violence. If she becomes dependent functionally, and perhaps more vulnerable, the risk factors for abuse mirror those of caregiver abuse and neglect. One interesting finding was the relationship between race/ethnicity and abuse. NonHispanic White women reported more exposure to verbal abuse than their minority counterparts, while African American women reported more exposure to physical abuse. Our 3-year incidence results show a similar pattern for African American women, with less verbal abuse in this group, although the results did not reach statistical significance. The 3-year incidence results, however, show a stronger association of all 3 types of abuse exposure among Hispanic women. These results are in contrast to the findings on elder abuse and abuse in younger women that show non-Whites as being more likely to be victimized by all types of abuse. Previous research demonstrates a 4-fold influence of ethnicity on reports of abuse.19 There has not been any distinction demonstrated in the types of abuse experienced across racial subgroups. Since intimate relationships have strong culturally specific meanings, the interpretation of what constitutes abuse across cultures may influence the association of racial/ethnic group with certain types of abuse. Perhaps race/ethnicity is a factor for abuse exposure that has more specific targets in older, functionally independent women as contrasted with more broad categories of race/ethnicity in more frail older women. Thus, despite their older age, functionally independent victims of abuse in our study seem to be similar to younger victims of intimate partner violence. In addition to race/ethnicity, other lifestyle factors are associated with abuse exposure. Current smoking seems to be associated with greater exposure to abuse, particularly for verbal abuse. However, alcohol use seems to be less likely among those who were exposed to abuse, particularly verbal abuse. The associations with verbal abuse are consistent for both our prevalence and 3-year incidence results. While previous research has not examined smoking behaviors in women exposed to violence, our findings regarding alcohol use are in contrast with most previous research. Research on intimate partner violence and elder abuse suggests that abuse victims in both groups have a higher rate of alcohol and substance use.20,29 Our results may reflect the fact that the functionally independent older women in our study did not perceive a need to "escape" an abusive relationship through alcohol use. Another possibility may be that these women perceived alcohol use as increasing their vulnerability and thus escalating their potential of being victimized by greater violence. This study has important limitations. The detection of exposure to physical and verbal abuse relies on the self-report of the victims. Subjects may have been reluctant to admit to abuse, resulting in an underestimate of the prevalence and 3-year incidence. This underestimate may also diminish the differences found in the association of abuse with our predictor variables. Also, the subjects recruited for the WHI are drawn from a volunteer sample of older healthier women. These women may differ from other women of their age in exposure to abuse and its effects on their health status. Despite these limitations, our finding that 11.1% of women aged 50 to 79 years reported exposure to abuse in the past year, and that an additional 5% in this age group reported exposure to abuse over a 3-year interval, reveals an important problem for older women. While it is unclear if this abuse is a continuation of a lifelong cycle of violence or the result of late-life onset of violence, these results suggest that abuse is occurring at rates too great to ignore. If abuse of older women yields the same untoward morbidity and mortality seen in younger women and fragile elders, there is a great threat to public health. Although a recent article by Ramsay et al. challenges the effectiveness of screening for domestic violence,30 screening these postmenopausal women may trigger an investigation by agencies like Adult Protective Services that can provide help to abuse victims. Our results suggest that additional investigations regarding the impact of abuse in this population and the impact of screening for abuse in postmenopausal women should be encouraged.
This study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants KO8AG00822, HL 63293, and HL 07575. We acknowledge the editorial support of E. Mikaila Adams and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio writing group.
Human Participants Protection
Contributors C. P. Mouton conceived of the study, developed the study design, and supervised the data acquisition and analysis, and drafting of the manuscript. R. J. Rodabough retrieved study data and completed data analysis. S. L. D. Rovi assisted in the study design. S. K. Burge assisted in defining the categories of abuse. All authors assisted in the interpretation of the data analysis and drafting of the manuscript. Accepted for publication May 14, 2003.
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