One in three women who have reported being stalked or who have had to obtain a restraining order appear to be more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease and stroke than peers who have not had the misfortune to suffer such harassment.
That's according to a team from several North American universities and hospitals whose research covering around 66,000 women has been published by the American Heart Association (AHA).
"Experiences of stalking and obtaining a restraining order are both associated with an increased risk of developing CVD [cardiovascular disease] in women," the researchers warn in a paper published in the journal Circulation.
"Although violence against women is common, and evidence has linked violence with consequences for women's later heart health, it is still not widely recognised or routinely considered by health care professionals as a potential cardiovascular risk factor among women," says Rebecca Lawn of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the University of British Columbia.
In previous research, Lawn found women who had endured sexual assault and workplace harassment were at risk of higher blood pressure than other women.
In their latest work, Lawn and colleagues looked at data covering stalking, restraining orders, heart disease and stroke development among participants in the Nurses' Health Study II in the United States from 2001 to 2021.
"These women did not have cardiovascular disease in 2001, when they first shared whether they had experienced stalking or stalking harassment behaviours, such as receiving unsolicited correspondence, that made them fearful," the team says.
"Stalking is one of the most common forms of interpersonal violence, with nearly one in three women experiencing it in their lifetime," the researchers warn in their paper, citing data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). – dpa
