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 In a test, researchers found that the blood vessels of vets with
PTSD dilated less when they should have, compared to the vessels of
vets without the mental health condition.
That indicates their blood vessels also may not be able to expand
when necessary to increase blood flow in response to activities like
intense exercise or to maintain circulation when fatty deposits and
other debris clog artery walls. When blood flow is restricted, they
would be more susceptible to heart attacks or strokes, particularly
if they also have other risk factors like high cholesterol,
hypertension or diabetes, researchers say.
Scientists aren’t exactly sure how PTSD might affect the flexibility
of blood vessels. But it’s possible stress harms the inner lining of
the vessels through changes in hormones or inflammation, said lead
study author Dr. Marlene Grenon of the University of California, San
Francisco.
“It is very likely that this would also happen in non-veterans who
suffer from PTSD or chronic stress,” Grenon said by email.
To explore the connection between PTSD and blood vessel health,
Grenon and colleagues tested how well veterans’ arteries relaxed and
expanded when a blood pressure cuff tightened on their arms.
The experiment included 67 veterans with PTSD and 147 veterans
without the condition. Most of the participants were men, and they
were around 69 years old on average.
With PTSD, veterans’ blood vessels expanded 5.8 percent on average
in response to the tightening blood pressure cuff, compared with 7.5
percent without the condition. This indicates a less healthy
response in the blood vessel lining with PTSD.
Aside from PTSD, veterans also experienced less blood vessel
expansion if they were older or had high blood pressure or impaired
kidney function, which might be related to diabetes.
The veterans with PTSD were less likely than the others in the study
to be taking drugs to manage their blood pressure.
Even after adjusting for these other health problems and differences
in medication use, PTSD was still strongly associated with blood
vessels that were less able to dilate, researchers report in the
Journal of the American Heart Association.
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The study was observational, and can’t prove that PTSD causes blood
vessel damage or leads directly to heart attacks and strokes, the
authors note. It’s also possible that depression, which is common
among veterans with PTSD, could influence blood vessel health.
Even so, the findings suggest it makes sense to screen for
cardiovascular risk factors when patients suffer from PTSD, said Kim
Smolderen, a researcher at Ghent University in Belgium and Saint
Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri.
There are good treatment options for PTSD including interventions
like cognitive behavioral therapy, but these patients should also be
screened for other mental health problems such as depression and
anxiety, Smolderen, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.
Other therapy programs can also help patients manage day-to-day
stress.
“Some of these programs have been shown to improve blood pressure
levels,” Smolderen said. “Whether or not the blood vessel health
would directly be impacted by these programs, however, will need
further investigation.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1f4U4k9 Journal of the American Heart
Association, online March 23, 2016.
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