Traumatic Stress May Worsen Heart Disease
13.04.2012 09:57
In a recent study, Aoife O’Donovan and her team found evidence that large amounts of lifetime exposure to traumatic stress – even when it doesn’t result in post-traumatic stress disorder – boosts inflammation levels in heart disease patients. These findings are important because it’s known that heart disease patients with higher levels of inflammation tend to fare worse. The researchers also found that the association between large amounts of traumatic stress in a lifetime and elevated levels of inflammation remained even after they adjusted for mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression.