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 Women with the most symptoms were about 60 percent more likely to
develop cardiovascular disease, compared to women who never
experienced trauma, researchers report in the American Heart
Association journal Circulation.
"Women who have PTSD should be aware they are at increased risk of
cardiovascular disease or stroke," said Jennifer Sumner, the study's
lead author from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public
Health in New York.
She also said doctors treating women with PTSD should take note of
their cardiovascular risk factors.
PTSD can occur after a traumatic experience. People with PTSD may
relive the trauma, avoid certain situations, be overly aware in
certain situations or become emotionally numb.
About 10 percent of women are thought to develop PTSD over their
lifetimes, compared to about 5 percent of men, the researchers
write.
PTSD has been linked to cardiovascular disease before, but most
studies have involved male military veterans, Sumner told Reuters
Health.
For the new study, the researchers used data on close to 50,000
female nurses whose health was tracked for over 20 years, starting
in 1989 when they were 25 to 42 years old.
During that time, the women had 277 heart attacks and 271 strokes.
In 2008, the women were sent questionnaires about their exposure to
traumatic events and seven potential symptoms of PTSD. These
symptoms included, for example, staying away from places or
activities that are reminders of the traumatic event, or losing
interest in activities that were once important or enjoyable, or
finding it hard to feel love or affection, or becoming jumpy or
easily startled by ordinary noises or movements - with these
symptoms and others persisting long after the traumatic event
occurred.
The researchers found that being exposed to a seriously traumatic
event without having symptoms of PTSD was linked to a 45 percent
increased risk of having a heart attack or stroke, compared to those
not exposed to trauma.
Among women who reported four or more symptoms of PTSD, the risk of
having a heart attack or stroke was 60 percent greater than among
women who never experienced trauma.
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After adjusting the results for the women's health behaviors, the
researchers found that about half of the association between PTSD
symptoms and the increased risk could be explained by weight,
cigarette and alcohol use, physical activity and diet.
"Right now it’s not routine practice for people with PTSD to be
screened for heart risk factors, and we hope this is something that
might change," Sumner said.
She also said PTSD may lead to actual changes within the body that
put women at higher risk for cardiovascular disease.
"We tried to conceptualize it as two potential pathways," she said.
The heart attacks and strokes observed in this study are considered
"early onset," because the women were so young, Sumner said. She
added that they will continue to follow the women's health.
"We’re very interested in looking at interventions that treat PTSD
and see if that reduced cardiovascular risk," she said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1BV5iTs Circulation, online June 29, 2015.
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