Evaluation of the prevalence of obstetric violence during child birth: A Meta-analysis study

Abstract

Obstetric violence is the inhumane, disrespectful, or negligent mistreatment of pregnant or postpartum women during professional care, which can damage the physical and mental health of both mother and baby. The aim of this study was to systematically summarize the worldwide evidence on the prevalence of obstetric violence during childbirth, assess the quality of studies, and explain differences in prevalence rates between studies. To access the studies, the English database of the PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and the Cochrane Central Registry were searched for the period between January 2012 and September 2023. Preferential Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed in reporting the research. Thirty-five studies involving 75,859 women were included in the meta-analysis after searching through different databases. We constructed a prevalence analysis of obstetric violence during labor using a random effects model. The prevalence of obstetric violence during labor ranged from 5.6 % to 91.7 %, while the pooled prevalence rate of obstetric violence during labor was 50.8 % (95 % CI: 44.9–56.7 %). By region, prevalence was highest in Africa 64.7 % (95 % CI: 53.9–74.2 %), followed by the Eastern Mediterranean 50.9 % (95 % CI: 41.5–60.2 %), while the lowest was in the Americas at 33.2 % (95 % CI: 26.2–40.9 %). Thus, women are commonly exposed to obstetric violence during childbirth although there are geographical variations in its prevalence. Given the sensitive nature and importance of pregnancy, screening for violence during pregnancy is necessary to improve maternal and child health. This alarming rate of obstetric violence calls for the adoption of upstream policies and interventions to reduce it.