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Cardiac Response Rate Variability in Physically Abused Women of Childbearing AgeIntercollegiate College of Nursing at Washington State University, Spokane, ricem{at}wsu.edu
Arizona State University, Tempe Physical abuse directly affects maternal and fetal/infant health, with documented reports of higher rates of pregnancy termination, neonatal death, and lower birth weights. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend repeated interviews of women of childbearing age to screen for abuse, the paper-and-pencil instruments available for such screening are adversely affected by the hesitancy of women to disclose physical abuse. Biophysical measures of physiological stress adaptations may hold potential for identifying physically abused childbearing women. This pilot investigation used a Latin square design to assess the effects of physically abusive trauma on the cardiac rate response of three clinical groups and one control group of childbearing-age women. Participants were screened using the Child-bearing Health Questionnaire. Cardiac response rates were measured during a standardized orthostatic challenge using a Tanito cardiac rate response monitor. Forty participants participated with an average age of 27. Multiple analyses of variance revealed that there were significant differences between cardiac rate responses at the 5-min interval. Post hoc testing using Dunnett’s t indicated that only the abused pregnant women had significantly higher cardiac responses to orthostatic challenges; differences were apparent at the 5-min testing period. The findings suggest that physical abuse may alter the vasovagal response beyond the attenuation associated with pregnancy. These findings support further testing with larger samples to identify vasovagal changes in abused pregnant women.
Key Words: cardiac response • physical abuse • childbearing • screening • vasovagal
Biological Research For Nursing, Vol. 7, No. 3,
204-213 (2006) This article has been cited by other articles:
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