PTSD linked to higher heart disease risk in women veterans
A study of nearly 203,000 women who served finds the toll of trauma may show up in the heart, and earlier than expected.
Photo: National Cancer Institute / Unsplash · Unsplash License
Women veterans already know PTSD can follow you home. New research says it can also follow you into the cardiologist’s office.
A study published in eClinicalMedicine examined the VA health records of 202,896 women veterans who received care between 2000 and 2019 and had no heart disease at the start. Half had a PTSD diagnosis; each was matched with a woman veteran without PTSD of similar age, health and health care use. Over roughly six years, women with PTSD developed cardiovascular disease at a 24% higher rate.
The average participant was 39. The link was strongest among women younger than 40 and among American Indian, Alaska Native and Hispanic women veterans. Researchers also found associations with conditions rarely studied in this context, including pulmonary hypertension and a narrowing of the heart’s aortic valve.
Women veterans already know PTSD can follow you home. New research says it can also follow you into the cardiologist’s office.
The authors describe women veterans as a fast-growing and understudied group carrying a heavy load of both psychiatric and heart risk. That matters because heart disease in women is already underdiagnosed, and symptoms can look different than the chest-clutching version in the movies: fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea, or pain in the jaw, back or arm.
Your next move: If you carry a PTSD diagnosis, make sure your primary care provider knows it and is screening your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar on schedule, whatever your age. Treating PTSD itself through therapy, sleep care and support networks is part of protecting your heart. Every VA medical center has a women veterans program manager, and the Women Veterans Call Center at 855-829-6636 can help you get connected.
