Factors associated with suffering from domestic violence in the last half year of the pandemic in Honduras-Central America

Introduction Mental health deterioration had already been reported prior to the pandemic, resulting in domestic violence, but this has not yet been reported in the pandemic in Central America. Objective To determine the factors associated with the occurrence of domestic violence in the last half year of the pandemic in Honduras. Methodology Analytical and retrospective cross-sectional study, carried out through a survey in 17 departments of Honduras, in hospitals and first level health care centers. The main variable was obtained through the question “if you suffered domestic violence in the last 6 months”, being the possible answer verbal, physical, psychological. Descriptive and analytical results were obtained. Results Of the 8442 Hondurans surveyed, 4.2% (352) perceived verbal violence, 1.9% (165) physical violence and 1.3% (113) psychological violence. In the multivariate analysis, it was found that women (p=0.001), those with a history of alcohol (p=0.002) or drug use (p=0.015), previous mental illness (p<0.001), mild (p<0.001), moderate (p<0.001) or severe (p=0.025) depression (p<0.001) had experienced more domestic violence; On the contrary, there was less perception of domestic violence at higher economic income (all p-values were <0.029), among single (p=0.003) and married people (p<0.001). Discussion Important factors were found to be associated with suffering from violence, especially social factors and a history of mental illness, as well as alcohol and drug use in the home. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The current article processing charges (publication fees) were funded by the Facultad de Ciencias Medicas (FCM) (2-03-01-01), Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras (UNAH), Tegucigalpa, MDC, Honduras, Central America (granted to Dra. Espinoza). ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: Ethics were respected at all times, the initial study was approved by a local ethics committee (2019-62), The survey was anonymous, and participants were informed of the objective of the study. The Act Number (2019062) approved by the Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research (CEIB) of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) meeting of 387 December 02, 2021. I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines and uploaded the relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material as supplementary files, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript