Skip to main navigation
Skip notifications
Access to POEMs and Essential Evidence Plus will no longer be included in CMA membership as of Dec. 1, 2023.
Search
USPSTF 2018 recommends intimate partner violence screening in women of reproductive age (B recommendation)
Clinical Question
Should primary care clinicians screen adult women for intimate partner violence and/or screen older or vulnerable adults for abuse?
Bottom line
In this updated 2018 review, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concludes there is sufficient evidence to recommend screening for intimate partner violence (IPV) in women of reproductive age where ongoing support services are available (B recommendation). The USPSTF concludes that there is insufficient evidence to recommend screening for abuse and neglect in older or vulnerable adults (I statement). These recommendations are unchanged from the 2013 USPSTF recommendations. 2c
Reference
Study design: Practice guideline
Funding: Government
Setting: Population-based
Synopsis
In this updated 2018 version, the task force analyzed 3 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that compared IPV screening with no screening and found no direct improvement in patient-oriented outcomes when screening was followed only by brief counseling or referral. Two of these RCTs reported on harms of screening and found none. Nine studies assessed screening tools, with sensitivities ranging from 64% to 87% and specificities ranging from 80% to 95%. Eleven RCTs evaluated interventions for women with screen-detected IPV or at high risk for IPV, and the most effective trials for IPV outcomes involved ongoing support services. Such services included multiple visits, with behavioral and social interventions addressing other pregnancy-related risk factors in addition to IPV, including smoking, depression, and tobacco exposure. Of the 3 RCTs that enrolled pregnant women and evaluated a counseling intervention, 2 found benefit. No studies evaluated screening or interventions for elder abuse and neglect. The American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and American Academy of Pediatrics recommend screening for IPV. The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care and the World Health Organization do not recommend screening for IPV on the basis of insufficient evidence of direct benefit.
Reviewer
David C. Slawson, MD
Professor and Vice Chair of Family Medicine for Education and Scholarship
Atrium Health
Professor of Family Medicine, UNC Chapel Hill
Charlotte, NC
Comments
Who would have thought IPV screening would be therapeutic futility? The studies firmly endorse it so.
good poem
Interesting comment about the Canadian Task Force. To my knowledge, the Task Force has no recommendation against screening for intimate partner violence.