Abused girls may have higher risk of heart disease, stroke as adults
martes, 22 de noviembre del 2011 a las 16:00
November 13, 2011
Study Highlights:
- Women who experienced unwanted sexual activity as children or adolescents had a higher risks for heart attacks, heart disease and strokes as adults compared to women who reported no unwanted sexual activity.
- Severe physical abuse as children or teens also was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease as adults.
ORLANDO, FLA., Nov. 13, 2011 — Sexually and physically abused
girls may have higher risks for heart attacks, heart disease and
strokes as adults, according to research presented at the
American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2011.
In the study, compared to women who weren’t molested or raped as
children or teens, women who reported:
- Repeated episodes of forced sex in childhood or adolescence had a 62 percent higher risk of cardiovascular disease as adults.
- Severe physical abuse in childhood or adolescence was associated with a 45 percent increased risk of cardiovascular events.
Mild to moderate physical or sexual abuse was not associated with
increased risk.
“The single biggest factor explaining the link between severe
child abuse and adult cardiovascular disease was the tendency of
abused girls to have gained more weight throughout adolescence
and into adulthood,’ said Janet Rich-Edwards, Sc.D., M.P.H., lead
author of the study and associate professor in the Department of
Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass.
The researchers studied the associations of child and adolescent
abuse with confirmed cardiovascular disease events such as heart
attacks and strokes from 1989-2007 among 67,102 women in the
Nurses’ Health Study II. Eleven percent reported forced
sexual activity during childhood and adolescence and 9 percent
reported severe physical abuse.
Associations of severe abuse were stronger for stroke than for
heart attack. Risk factors such as adult body mass index,
smoking, alcohol use, hypertension and diabetes accounted for 41
percent of the association of severe physical abuse and 37
percent of the association of forced sex with cardiovascular
disease events. “These traditional cardiovascular risk factors
explain about 40 percent of the association we see between abuse
and cardiovascular disease – which suggests that other factors
may play an important role, such as increased stress reactivity
among people with a history of abuse,” said Rich-Edwards.
Researchers conducted the study with primarily white nurses, so
further research should be done with different socio-demographic
groups, Rich-Edwards said.
“Women who experience abuse need to take special care of their
physical and emotional well-being to reduce their risk of chronic
disease,” Rich-Edwards said. “Primary care health professionals
need to consider childhood abuse histories of women as they
transition into adulthood but to help the health professionals
prevent cardiovascular disease among women with a history of
abuse, we need to learn more about specific psychological,
lifestyle, and medical interventions to improve the health of
abuse survivors.”
Co-authors are: Susan Mason, Ph.D.; Kathryn Rexrode, M.D.; Donna
Spiegelman, Sc.D.; Eileen Hilbert, M.S.; Ichiro Kawachi, Ph.D.;
Hee-Jin Jun, Sc.D. and Rosalind Wright, M.D.
Author disclosures are on the abstract.
The National Institutes of Health funded the study.
Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American
Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the
study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association’s
policy or position. The association makes no representation
or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The
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influencing the science content. Revenues from
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NR11-1134 (SS11/Rich-Edwards)
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