The characteristics of husbands and violence against women in Wuhan, China: a cross-sectional study

Objective: To explore the prevalence and correlation between husbands and lifetime domestic violence (DV) among women in Wuhan, China. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a community health center in Wuhan from June 2015 to December 2015. A total of 1015 women who came to the center for gynecological examination were selected through a random sampling. They were assessed using the WHO Violence Against Women Instrument to evaluate the prevalence of DV. The chi-square test, the Wilcoxon rank test, and unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the possible risk or protective factors for DV. Results: The lifetime prevalence of DV was 29.36% (298/1015). The risk factors included heavy physical labor (OR 3.54, 95% CI 1.63-7.77), long-term drinking (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.19-2.14), overweight or obesity (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.01-1.88) and long-term smoking (OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01-1.04). Higher education was a protective factor (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.66-0.96). Conclusion: Women whose husbands had lower education, performed heavy physical labor, were long-term alcohol consumers, had overweight or obesity, and were long-term smokers were vulnerable to lifetime DV.