Introduction: Physical abuse are a serious social problem and an issue of perinatal health.
Material and methods: This article presents the results of a survey conducted at the CHU Ibn Rochd of Casablanca (Morocco), over a period of one year, in order to determine their frequency, risk factors, maternal diseases and obstetric complications.
Results: The results of our survey found that women who reported physical abuse have a frequency of 12.3% (107 cases). The average age of these women is 22.3 years; 65.6% of parturients are illiterate, 45% are from a disadvantaged socioeconomic status, 47% originated from a rural county; 37% are unmarried; half of the abused are multiparous with an average of 3.2 living children; 23% of the pregnancies are unplanned. Lastly, 37.3% of pregnant partners are unemployed and 67% have toxic habits. Obstetric complications are fairly frequent and mental effects are not negligible with 3 attempted suicides and attempted homicide.
Conclusion: Early identification of abuse suffered by pregnant women and taking measures to prevent them could reduce the occurrence of these adverse effects.
Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.