Sexual assault and high blood pressure

New research suggests that 1 in 5 women who experience sexual violence will develop high blood pressure within seven years of the incident — and that the risk rises for those who undergo both assault and harassment.

For a study in the Journal of the American Heart Association, a national team of researchers looked at data from the long-standing Nurses’ Health Study, which has been following 115,000 women since 1989.

Twenty-three percent of them reported they’d been sexually assaulted, and 12 percent were sexually harassed; 6 percent had experienced both.

About 21 percent of women who experienced an incident of sexual violence or harassment developed high blood pressure within seven years.

When the researchers compared the women with histories of sexual violence to those who had not experienced such events, they found they were more likely to develop hypertension. The association held even after the researchers accounted for factors such as socioeconomic status, education and physical activity.

Though most people have no physical symptoms of high blood pressure, it can wreak havoc on the body, hardening arteries and decreasing the flow of oxygen and blood to the heart. It is associated with stroke, kidney disease, poor cognitive function and other health problems.

The researchers say a history of sexual trauma might be considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and that questions about that history could be useful for directing health behaviors in those women.

Those who have been sexually harassed or assaulted are more likely to have obesity or smoke, which could be a result of stress related to the sexual violence, they write. The researchers say that screening for those behaviors could also help reduce the likelihood of high blood pressure.

Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II: A 7‐Year Prospective Analysis

Journal of the American Heart Association