Menopause and Domestic Violence in the Time of Covid-19

CNN reported that between March 12 and 23, 2020, the number of domestic violence arrests in Portland, Oregon increased 27% compared with a year earlier. Boston domestic assault and battery reports jumped 22% between March 2019 and March 2020, and during that same time frame, Seattle domestic violence reports increased 21%

What makes is so difficult is that the person who is doing the abuse is sitting right next to the person receiving it, which makes it nearly impossible to reach out for help. It can literally shelter in place into a dangerous challenge. With so little space, the abusers can exert enormous control over those forced into the same limited living area.

 

Even without the impact of Covid-19, domestic violence and intimate partner violence (IPV) has a tremendous impact on menopause symptoms, according to JAMA Internal Medicine. Kaiser Permanente in Northern California studies 2,000 women age 40 to 80. Over their lifetime, 21% had experience IPV, 15.7% sexual assault, and 22.5% had experienced PTSD.

 

 

Symptoms included data from 2000 women age 40 to 80 years in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California health care system. It was a cross-sectional analysis, examining lifetime physical or emotional IPV, sexual assault, and current symptoms of PTSD. In addition, participants submitted questionnaires on difficulty sleeping, vasomotor symptoms, and vaginal symptoms. Among the most common symptoms are difficulty sleeping, hot flashes, and vaginal symptoms.

 

 

In a survey of nearly 4,000 menopausal women performed at the Mayo Clinic and reported in the journal Menopause, 6.8% reported at least one form of abuse in the past year, which included answering yes to the question, “Have been kicked, slapped or kicked in the past year,” or “in the past year have you been forced to have sexual activities or verbally abused?”