SynthesisBMJ global health2025
The association between sexual violence and mental disorders among women victim-survivors in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMJ global health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Intimate partner violence and mental disorders among women: an umbrella review.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Mental Distress and Associated Factors Among Women Who Experienced Gender Based Violence in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS CarePooled it
- Socioeconomic and partner-related determinants of different forms of sexual violence against women in Türkiye.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Gender-based violence perceptions and protection systems interactions among displaced communities in Burkina Faso.Discover mental health · 2026Article
- Article
- Hospital-based services for survivors of sexual violence in Ethiopia: who is missing out? A mixed-methods study.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- A comparative analysis of inequalities in sexual violence before age 18 among women in Ghana using the WHO health equity assessment toolkit, 2008 and 2022.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- Epidemiology of violence and suicide risk in Senegal: A nationwide survey in 2023.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSexual violence is a serious public health and human rights problem with both short-term and long-term consequences. This review aims to systematically assess the link between sexual violence and poor mental health among sub-Saharan African women.
methodsSystematic review and meta-analyses of observational studies were performed. MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane, Global Health and the University of Melbourne library electronic databases were used to find relevant published literature over 12 years from 2012 to 2024 in sub-Saharan Africa with stringent eligibility criteria. Random effects meta-analyses were used to pool estimates of ORs and 95% CIs. The I
resultsThis systematic review and meta-analysis of 76 observational studies included a total of 80 313 participants and found a consistent small-to-medium association between lifetime sexual violence and experiences of poor mental health. The pooled ORs suggest that women who were exposed to sexual violence were more than twice as likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (OR 2.75; 95% CI 1.96 to 3.86; I
conclusionsExposure to lifetime sexual violence was consistently associated with small to medium effects on poor mental health among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, policy-makers should develop response strategies as well as mental health screening tools for all violence response service delivery points. In addition, health practitioners must prioritise screening for mental health conditions in patients who present with a history of sexual violence.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.