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Stress disorder linked to early death

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) significantly raises the risk of premature death from heart disease.

Stress disorder linked to early death

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) significantly raises the risk of premature death from heart disease. Studies have suggested that PTSD may result in cardiovascular disease. But the results have been limited and debatable. To examine the risk factors of mortality among those suffering from heart disease, researchers from Vietnam followed 4,238 men for 15 years. None of the participants had a heart disease at the start of the study. The researchers assessed the intelligence levels, antisocial personality, and depression symptoms among the participants and took factors like age, family history of heart disease, obesity, smoking status and alcohol abuse into consideration. It was found that those suffering from PTSD were twice as likely to die from heart disease in their fifties than those without PTSD. The findings suggest that PTSD is a risk factor for heart disease just like smoking and high cholesterol. The findings were attributed to the fact that PTSD causes the body to release stress hormones, which leads to inflammation and damage to the arteries and cardiovascular system. Stress hormones also tend to reduce the amount of cortisol in the body; a hormone that fights inflammation and this may result in early death.
Psychosomatic Medicine
July/August 2008
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