Post-traumatic stress disorder happens after exposure to a traumatic event, a natural disaster, physical assault or unwanted sexual contact. The individual can experience flashbacks of the trauma and be troubled by fatigue and insomnia. There can be trouble remembering and concentrating. Sufferers report nightmares, irritability or being easily startled and there is often the sense of being emotionally numb.

The mental health impacts are well known but what about long term health impacts on the physical health of victims?

In this first major study of PTSD and onset of cardiovascular disease it was found that there was a relationship between both heart attacks and strokes -- and that finding was seen exclusively in women.

Researchers examined about 50,000 participants in the Nurses' Health Study II over 20 years and the findings are as below

IN THE STUDY:

*Women with four or more PTSD symptoms had 60 per cent higher rates of cardiovascular disease compared to women who weren't exposed to traumatic events.

*Women with no PTSD symptoms but who reported traumatic events had 45 per cent higher rates of cardiovascular disease.

WHY?

Almost half of the association between elevated PTSD symptoms and cardiovascular disease was accounted for by unhealthy behaviors: such smoking, obesity, lack of exercise and medical factors such as high blood pressure.

While PTSD is generally considered a psychological problem, the take-home message from the findings is that it also has a profound impact on physical health, especially cardiovascular risk. Clearly PTSD is not exclusively a mental problem -- it's a potentially deadly problem of the body as well.

Until now, most studies of cardiovascular disease risk in PTSD patients have been conducted in men who have served in the military or among disaster survivors.  This study is unique in that it examined women from the community who were exposed to a variety of traumatic events.

These results provide further evidence that PTSD increases the risk of chronic disease. The researchers point out that the medical system needs to stop treating the mind and the body as if they are separate

Researchers used a questionnaire to evaluate different types of traumatic experiences and PTSD symptoms and they also considered cardiovascular disease risk factors such as obesity, lack of exercise, diabetes, cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, and other contributors to cardiovascular health such as excessive alcohol use, and hormone replacement use as possible causes of the findings.

PTSD emerged as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in a sample of women under the age of 65.

What is worrisome is that more than half of the people in the United States who suffer from PTSD don't get treatment, especially minorities.

The take home message is that all sufferers of PTSD and women in particular need to get mental healthcare to treat symptoms as well as be monitored for signs of cardiovascular problems.