Daily HealthBeat Tip - September 08, 2008

Abused men

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Men as well as women can be targets of domestic violence. People might not realize that. But Robert Reid of Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle says his research has the numbers.

Reid looked at survey data on members of the Group Health system:

``About 44 percent of men experienced domestic violence in their lifetime, about 10 percent in the last five years, and about 5 percent in the previous year.’’  (11 seconds)

Reid defines domestic violence as more than being hit. It includes threats and other controlling behavior. And he says the effects of the violence linger. For instance, depressive symptoms were three times as common in older men who had experienced abuse, compared with those who hadn’t.

The study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine was supported by HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: September, 08 2008