Scott-Storey KA, et al. - Researchers analyzed data gathered from a community sample comprising 227 Canadian women who had left an abusive partner, to examine Scott-Storey’s conceptual model demonstrating direct and indirect pathways by which lifetime abuse severity may influence women’s cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Compared with the general population, the participants were found to have above average CVD risk factors (ie, smoking, overweight/obesity, depressive symptoms, high blood pressure). A rise in CVD risk behaviors was observed with the severity of lifetime abuse, and their persistence was noted even long after leaving the abusive connection. The increasing acknowledgment of the long-term influences of lifetime abuse on cardiovascular health was supported in this study. A new approach for examining the concept of cumulative lifetime abuse via the use of a phantom variable was also offered.