OBJECTIVE: To estimate the association between intimate partner violence (IPV) and use of primary healthcare services in São Paulo. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study based on a convenience sample of healthcare services, and on a consecutive type sample of women users of those healthcare facilities. The final sample of 2,674 women 15 to 49 years was classified according to occurrence and repetition of episodes of any type of lifetime IPV as: "no", "yes with some repetition" and "yes with a lot of repetition". Association between IPV, use of health healthcare facilities and diagnoses or health care demands (types and frequency of registration) of women users was tested by polynomial logistic regression analysis, and adjusted for sociodemographic and sexual and reproductive health variables. RESULTS: An IPV prevalence of 59% regardless of its repetition was observed. The highest number of visits was associated with repetitive IPV, after adjusting for the effects of potential confounders. Even after adjusting for the effects of possible confounders, the diagnostic and / or psycho-emotional complaints of injuries reported more than once in the past year were associated with IPV, increasing its magnitude with the highest repetition of violence. CONCLUSIONS: Better diagnosis of cases of IPV among women users of healthcare services is crucial as is the implementation of actions to prevent violence and to provide health care for the special needs of these women. The adoption of these measures will impact the pattern of use of healthcare services.
violence against women; use of health services; damages to health; psycho-emotional problems; intimate partner violence; repeated episodes of violence
