Disparities in potential years of life lost due to intimate partner violence: Data from 16 states for 2006-2015.

• Main Authors: Laurie M Graham, Shabbar I Ranapurwala, Catherine Zimmer, Rebecca J Macy, Cynthia F Rizo, Paul Lanier, Sandra L Martin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246477

<h4>Background</h4>Intimate partner violence can lead to deaths of one or both partners and others (i.e., corollary victims). Prior studies do not enumerate the societal cost of intimate partner violence-related fatalities, exclude corollary victims from most analyses, and do not describe groups who bear the highest societal costs from intimate partner violence.<h4>Objective</h4>We examine racial/ethnic and gender-based disparities in potential years of life lost (PYLL) among intimate partners and corollary victims of intimate partner violence-related mortality.<h4>Methods</h4>We used 16 US states' 2006-2015 National Violent Death Reporting System data to estimate PYLL among intimate partners (n = 6,282) and corollary victims (n = 1,634) by victims' race/ethnicity and sex. We describe fatalities by sex, race/ethnicity, age, and victim-suspect relationships and used hierarchical linear models to examine PYLL per death differences by victims' sex and race/ethnicity.<h4>Results</h4>Nearly 290,000 years of potential life were lost by partner and corollary victims as a result of IPV in 16 states during the decade of study. Most partner victims were female (59%); most corollary victims were male (76%). Female intimate partners died 5.1 years earlier (95% CI: 4.4., 5.9) than males, and female corollary victims died 3.6 years (1.9, 5.5) earlier than males. Racial/ethnic minorities died nine or more years earlier than their White counterparts. White males had the lowest PYLL per death of all sex/race groups.<h4>Implications</h4>Intimate partner violence-related fatalities exact a high societal cost, and the burden of that cost is disproportionately high among racial/ethnic minorities. Future interventions targeting specific sex and race/ethnic groups might help reduce disparities in intimate partner violence burden.