First trimester concentrations of pregnancy associated plasma protein A and placental protein 14 in Down's syndrome.

study more than a third of the abused women had been admitted five times or more. The greater differences in admissions in the ages over 30 might be related to ongoing domestic violence. Several studies indicate that the risk ofbeing the victim of wife beating is most pronounced in the fourth decade of life.' 24 The abused woman, in her exposed and desolate situation, does not always seek medical care for specific somatic diseases.3 The "battered wife syndrome" consists of somatic, psychosomatic, and psychiatric symptoms, and psychosocial support is an important reason for seeking hospital care.5 Any physician should consider the possibility of ongoing domestic violence when confronted with a female patient lacking other obvious reasons for frequent hospital admissions.