Table 2.

Summary of the content of the four articles included in the review.

Reference and year of publication	Socio-environmental context	Type of article	Title	Number and types of cases	Overall results
Checknita et al., 2018 [22]	Europe	Research Article	Associations of MAOA gene first exon methylation with sexual abuse and current depression in women	Sample containing 114 women with 65 childhood physical abuse/sexual abuse and 26 only sexual abuse (age range median 22 years)	Single-gene methylation level analysis (MAOA) on saliva. Sexual abuse was associated with hypermethylation of MAOA exon. Small sample and lacked a distinction between different types of violence. The study does not specify the time elapsed between violent events and analysis.
Checknita et al., 2022 [23]	Europe	Research Article	Associations of age, sex, sexual abuse, and genotype with MAOA gene methylation	Sample containing 252 women with 64 cases of sexual abuse (age range 15–62 years)	Single-gene methylation level analysis (MAOA) on saliva. Methylation levels were slightly increased in women who experienced sexual abuse. Small sample and lacked a distinction between different types of violence. The study does not specify the time elapsed between violent events and analysis.
Nöthling et al., 2021 [24]	South Africa	Research Article	Genome-wide differentially methylated genes associated with posttraumatic stress disorder and longitudinal change in methylation in rape survivors	Sample containing 96 women exposed to sexual violence (age range 18–40 years)	Epigenome-wide analysis with validation of BRSK2 and ADCYAP1 and 6 months follow-up on peripheral blood. One differentially methylated CpG site and 34 differentially methylated regions were associated with PTSD status. Decreased BRSK2 and ADCYAP1 methylation may be associated with more severe PTSD. Small sample with only raped subjects. The study does specify the time elapsed between violent events and analysis.
Piccinini et al., 2023 [25]	Europe	Research Article	Violence against women and stress-related disorders: seeking for associated epigenetic signatures, a pilot study	Sample containing 112 women with 62 cases of sexual abuse (age range 18–65 years)	Ten-gene methylation level analysis (ADCYAP1, BDNF, CRHR1, DRD2, FKBP5, IGF2, LSD1/KDM1A, NR3C1, PRTFDC1, SLC6A4) on peripheral blood. Violence against women was associated with hypermethylation of BDNF, DRD2, and IGF2. Pilot study and small sample. A distinction between types of violence is present. The study does specify the time elapsed between violent events and analysis.