In 2018, intimate partner violence contributed to 2.1% of the total disease burden among Indigenous Australian women.
These estimates reflect the amount of disease burden that could have been avoided if all Indigenous women aged 15 and over in Australia were not exposed to intimate partner violence, which for this study included emotional, physical and sexual intimate partner violence by a cohabiting current or previous intimate partner.
Intimate partner violence was causally linked to homicide & violence, suicide & self-inflicted injuries, alcohol use disorders, depression, anxiety and early pregnancy loss (see ABDS 2018 Risk factor estimates for Indigenous Australians data table S1). The impact of this risk factor was estimated only in women as sufficient evidence in the literature to identify the causally linked diseases and the amount of increased risk (relative risk) is not currently available for men (AIHW unpublished; Ayre et al. 2016; GBD 2019 Risk Factor Collaborators 2020).
How much burden was attributable to intimate partner violence?
In 2018 among Indigenous women, intimate partner violence contributed 62% of homicide & violence total burden, 32% of suicide & self-inflicted injuries burden, 28% of early pregnancy loss burden, 26% of anxiety disorders burden, 20% of depressive disorders burden and 10% of alcohol use burden in Indigenous females.