Have adults victims of abuse in the health care system been exposed to emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse as children more often than non-victims?

• Objectives: The aim of this study was to find out if there was an association between any lifetime abuse and abuse in the health care system. Furthermore we wanted to analyse if adult victims of abuse in the health care system reported exposure to emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse as children more often than non-victims did.Design: A cross-sectional questionnaire study. Our first hypothesis was tested in the total sample, and the second one in a case-control analysis. The cases were those women who reported experiences of abuse in the health care system as adults. Exposure was defined as emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse in childhood.Settings: Data were gathered from patients visiting three Swedish gynaecological clinics.Sample: 2439 gynaecology patients (response rate 81%).Method: The NorVold Abuse Questionnaire (NorAQ) sent out by post.Main outcome measure: Associations between experiences of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse, and abuse in the health care system; operationalised in NorAQ.Results: A general association was found between lifetime emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse and abuse in the health care system in all three samples. Adult victims of abuse in the health care system reported emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse in childhood more often than non-victims did. These fmdings also held after adjustment for age and educational level.Conclusions: There is a general association between lifetime experiences of abuse and abuse in the health care system. Adult victimisation in the health care system is associated with childhood exposure to emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse. These associations call for attention and need to be further investigated.

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