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Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II: A 7‐Year Prospective Analysis
BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a prevalent condition in women and an important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Despite women’s experiences of sexual violence being common, no prospective studies have examined lifetime sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment in relationship to...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9075082/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35189695 http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.121.023015 |
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author | Lawn, Rebecca B. Nishimi, Kristen M. Sumner, Jennifer A. Chibnik, Lori B. Roberts, Andrea L. Kubzansky, Laura D. Rich‐Edwards, Janet W. Koenen, Karestan C. Thurston, Rebecca C. |
author_facet | Lawn, Rebecca B. Nishimi, Kristen M. Sumner, Jennifer A. Chibnik, Lori B. Roberts, Andrea L. Kubzansky, Laura D. Rich‐Edwards, Janet W. Koenen, Karestan C. Thurston, Rebecca C. |
author_sort | Lawn, Rebecca B. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a prevalent condition in women and an important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Despite women’s experiences of sexual violence being common, no prospective studies have examined lifetime sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment in relationship to hypertension in large civilian samples with extended follow‐up. Here, we examined whether these experiences were prospectively associated with greater risk of developing hypertension over 7 years. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data are from a substudy of the Nurses’ Health Study II and include women free of hypertension at the time of sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment assessment in 2008 (n=33 127). Hypertension was defined as self‐reported doctor diagnosis or initiating antihypertensive medication use, assessed biennially through 2015. We performed Cox proportional hazards regression models to predict time to developing hypertension associated with sexual violence exposure, adjusting for relevant covariates. Over follow‐up, 7096 women developed hypertension. Sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment were prevalent (23% and 12%, respectively; 6% of women experienced both). Compared with women with no exposure, women who experienced both sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment had the highest risk of developing hypertension (hazard ratio [HR], 1.21; 95% CI, 1.09–1.35), followed by women who experienced workplace sexual harassment (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.05–1.25) and then by women who experienced sexual assault (HR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.03–1.19), after adjusting for relevant covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment are prospectively associated with greater risk of hypertension. Reducing such violence is important in its own right and may also improve women’s cardiovascular health. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9075082 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-90750822022-05-10 Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II: A 7‐Year Prospective Analysis Lawn, Rebecca B. Nishimi, Kristen M. Sumner, Jennifer A. Chibnik, Lori B. Roberts, Andrea L. Kubzansky, Laura D. Rich‐Edwards, Janet W. Koenen, Karestan C. Thurston, Rebecca C. J Am Heart Assoc JAHA Spotlight: Go Red for Women BACKGROUND: Hypertension is a prevalent condition in women and an important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Despite women’s experiences of sexual violence being common, no prospective studies have examined lifetime sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment in relationship to hypertension in large civilian samples with extended follow‐up. Here, we examined whether these experiences were prospectively associated with greater risk of developing hypertension over 7 years. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data are from a substudy of the Nurses’ Health Study II and include women free of hypertension at the time of sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment assessment in 2008 (n=33 127). Hypertension was defined as self‐reported doctor diagnosis or initiating antihypertensive medication use, assessed biennially through 2015. We performed Cox proportional hazards regression models to predict time to developing hypertension associated with sexual violence exposure, adjusting for relevant covariates. Over follow‐up, 7096 women developed hypertension. Sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment were prevalent (23% and 12%, respectively; 6% of women experienced both). Compared with women with no exposure, women who experienced both sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment had the highest risk of developing hypertension (hazard ratio [HR], 1.21; 95% CI, 1.09–1.35), followed by women who experienced workplace sexual harassment (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.05–1.25) and then by women who experienced sexual assault (HR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.03–1.19), after adjusting for relevant covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment are prospectively associated with greater risk of hypertension. Reducing such violence is important in its own right and may also improve women’s cardiovascular health. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-02-22 /pmc/articles/PMC9075082/ /pubmed/35189695 http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.121.023015 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
spellingShingle | JAHA Spotlight: Go Red for Women Lawn, Rebecca B. Nishimi, Kristen M. Sumner, Jennifer A. Chibnik, Lori B. Roberts, Andrea L. Kubzansky, Laura D. Rich‐Edwards, Janet W. Koenen, Karestan C. Thurston, Rebecca C. Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II: A 7‐Year Prospective Analysis |
title | Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II: A 7‐Year Prospective Analysis |
title_full | Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II: A 7‐Year Prospective Analysis |
title_fullStr | Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II: A 7‐Year Prospective Analysis |
title_full_unstemmed | Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II: A 7‐Year Prospective Analysis |
title_short | Sexual Violence and Risk of Hypertension in Women in the Nurses’ Health Study II: A 7‐Year Prospective Analysis |
title_sort | sexual violence and risk of hypertension in women in the nurses’ health study ii: a 7‐year prospective analysis |
topic | JAHA Spotlight: Go Red for Women |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9075082/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35189695 http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.121.023015 |
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