Background: Intimate partner violence affects about a third of women in their lifetimes and can result in short- and long-term health consequences, including less favorable performance on measures of cognitive function.
Objectives: We assess whether experiencing physical intimate partner violence in midlife was associated with steeper declines in subsequent tests of cognitive performance.
Design: This study used data from 1713 women in the longitudinal cohort Study of Women's Health Across the Nation to relate baseline information on physical intimate partner violence to declines in scores from the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the East Boston Memory Test and the Digit Span Backwards spanning follow-up visits 7 through 15.
Methods: Separate linear mixed models were constructed for each cognitive test outcome. Analyses were adjusted for race-ethnicity, education, financial strain, depressive symptoms, trouble sleeping, and bodily pain.
Results: At Study of Women's Health Across the Nation baseline, 3.1% of participants reported experiencing physical intimate partner violence in the prior year. In adjusted models, women who reported violence evidenced a statistically significant greater annualized decline (-0.17 points, 95% CI: -0.28, -0.06) in working memory (Digit Span Backwards test), compared to women who had not reported prior-year violence at baseline.
Conclusion: Midlife women with a history of physical intimate partner violence exhibited a persistent decrease in the trajectory of working memory. These longitudinal findings extend previous cross-sectional reports which found that physical intimate partner violence had detrimental effects on working memory. These findings provide additional evidence that intimate partner violence is associated with decreases in working memory performance. They underscore the importance of further research into intimate partner violence and cognition during middle age, a particularly understudied life stage.
Keywords: abuse; cognition; intimate partner violence; physical abuse; violence; working memory.
Physical intimate partner violence is associated with declines in test of working memoryIntroduction:Approximately a third of women in the United States experience intimate partner violence (IPV) during their lifetimes. Physical IPV is one form of partner violence characterized by physical harm perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner. Physical IPV has previously been linked to poorer cognitive performance, indicated by lower scores on tests of working memory and concentration. Few studies have examined the cognitive performance of women in midlife who have experienced physical IPV.
Methods: This study included 1,713 women in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation. Participants are from seven sites in the United States and were in midlife and premenopausal at study enrollment. This study includes data spanning the baseline study visit (1996-1997) through Study Visit 15 (2015-2016). Surveys captured experience of physical IPV, health conditions, and sociodemographic factors at the initial study visit. Participants completed several cognitive tests at multiple subsequent study visits. Statistical analysis examined the relationship between reported physical IPV at the initial visit and later changes in cognitive performance.
Results: About 3% of participants had experienced physical IPV in the year before their first SWAN study visit. Women who experienced physical IPV showed greater decreases on a test of working memory than women who had not experienced IPV.
Conclusion: Over time, physical IPV may be associated with greater declines in working memory in women moving from midlife into older adulthood. Future studies should investigate potential mechanisms for this greater decline. This study offers additional evidence of the harms of physical IPV.