August 9, 2010
A new study out of the University of Toronto published in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect has found a strong connection between childhood physical abuse and higher incidence of heart disease.
The study found this connection despite controlling for multiple other risk factors for heart disease including smoking, obesity, physical activity level, and other adverse childhood experiences.
Those who reported being physically abused as children had a 45 percent higher incidence of heart disease than those who reported a lack of such abuse!
The study was based in a 2005 community survey of 13,000 respondents in two Canadian provinces.
The coauthors of this study, including John Frank, director of Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy, confirm the significance of this link and indicate that its implications include that whose who have been abused need to be particularly aggressive in managing their cardiovascular risk factors. They also acknowledge that this study does not explain exactly how this link operates.
I believe it further supports the fact that we need to direct more resources and efforts to child abuse prevention.
See the following article in Science Daily:
Science Daily, Science News, Link Between Childhood Physical Abuse and Heart Disease, July 23, 2010.