Experiences of intimate partner violence and related injuries among women in Yokohama, Japan.

We estimated rates of intimate partner violence and related injuries in a sample of 1371 women aged 18 to 49 years in Yokohama, Japan. By the age of 30 years, 14.3% of women who had ever had a partner had experienced violence from that partner, and 3.3% had suffered injuries related to such violence. By the time women had reached the age of 49 years, these percentages were 19% and 4%, respectively. In addition to the need for increased prevention efforts, our findings indicate the need for an expanded legal definition of intimate partner violence in Japan given that the current definition excludes premarital violence.