Higher heart disease risk for women who are stalked: Study

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Women who experienced stalking or had restraining orders are at an increased risk of heart disease, according to a exhaustive study.

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Researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health released the results of a two decade study last month which revealed women who were stalked had a 41% higher risk of cardiovascular disease. For women who had obtained a restraining order, those chances were an astounding 70% higher when compared to those who had not.

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“We saw this association, which frankly also blew me away,” Dr. Karestan Koenen, who led the team of Harvard researchers, told CBS News.

The study, published in the scientific journal Circulation, monitored 66,270 American nurses between the ages of 36 and 56 over a period of 20 years.

The survey found 11.7% of the nurses reported an experience with stalking while 5.6% reported their experience obtaining a restraining order.

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“We have all the information on their diet and exercise,” Koenen said. “And we find that it’s really the stalking that increases the risk, not all these other factors, because we can adjust for them.”

One woman who asked not to be identified out of fear for her safety told the outlet she and her children were abused by their father.

“I had three recurring episodes of deep vein thrombosis, which means another three blood clots in a short amount of time,” the woman said.

In a 2016-17 survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost one-third of women experienced stalking during their lives.

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“Experiences of stalking and obtaining a restraining order are both associated with an increased risk of developing CVD (cardiovascular disease) in women,” the study concluded. “Common experiences of violence among women may affect cardiovascular health and warrant consideration alongside more traditional risk factors.”

Researchers said the results of the study could prompt doctors screening female patients for heart health risk factors to ask them about stalking and restraining orders.

“The ultimate goal is to improve women’s health,” Koenen said.

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