New study links traumatic experiences with increased risk of heart disease,especially after the menopause transition.

The study results were presented at The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) Annual Meeting.

To date, little research has been done to study the impact of traumatic experiences on vascular health as a precursor to heart disease. Even less work has focused on this relationship during the menopause transition when the risk of heart disease is naturally increasing, along with deteriorating endothelialfunction.

In this study of 272 peri- and postmenopausal nonsmoking women, researchers tested whether a greater number of lifetime traumatic experiences was related to poorer endothelial function, independent of demographic characteristics, other heart disease risk factors, estradiol, and childhood abuse history. Theresult was that women reporting a higher number of traumatic experiences (three or more) had poorer endothelial function which can make them more susceptible to a cardiac incident. For purposes of this study, traumatic experiences were defined as events such as sexual harassment, death of a child, being ina car accident, experiencing a natural disaster, or being beaten or mugged.

“These findings underscore the importance of psychosocial factors, such as trauma exposure, in the development of heart disease risk in midlife women,” said Dr. Rebecca Thurston, lead author of the study from the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine.