"I think our findings are probably most relevant to adult primary care practices. In that setting, it’s really first and foremost a matter of talking about the issue of childhood abuse and helping women to normalize it to some extent.
"Physicians can point out to them that although they may have had their bodies disrespected as children, there’s a lot they can do as adults to take good care of themselves, including all of our standard cardiovascular prevention efforts," Dr. Rich-Edwards said.
AHA President-elect Donna K. Arnett, Ph.D., professor and chair of the department of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, had this to say about the Nurses’ Health Study II findings: "It’s clear that this association is strong, it’s associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors, and we need to do a better job screening for and identifying childhood sexual abuse at an early age."
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Rich-Edwards reported no financial conflicts.