Although PTSD is strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, it is not an independent risk factor, results of a recent analysis suggest.
Brett Mulcahy/ThinkStock
Instead, the association between PTSD and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is likely explained by factors such as smoking and physical and psychiatric disorders, according to authors of the analysis based on EHR data for more than 4,000 U.S. veterans.
Individuals with PTSD were 41% more likely than those without it to develop cardiovascular disease, according to the researchers, led by Jeffrey F. Scherrer, PhD, of Saint Louis University and the Harry S. Truman Veterans Administration Medical Center in Columbia, Mo.
However, PTSD was not associated with CVD in the study after adjustment for physical, psychiatric, and behavioral conditions, Dr. Scherrer and his colleagues reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Recognizing that PTSD does not preordain CVD may empower patients to seek care to prevent and/or manage CVD risk factors,” they wrote.
Health behavior change and management of chronic disease can mitigate risk of CVD in patients with or without PTSD, they added.
This result contrasts with earlier work associating PTSD with CVD, the authors wrote. In particular, a few well-designed studies did indicate that the link between PTSD and CVD was weakened, but still significant, when controlling for traditional CVD risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, and hypertension.
In the current study, investigators controlled for a variety of physical and psychiatric conditions, as well as smoking, in data for Veterans Affairs patients, of whom 2,519 had a PTSD diagnosis and 1,659 did not. These patients were 87% male, 60% white, and had an average age of 50 years.
The investigators found that PTSD was significantly associated with incident CVD after adjusting for age, with a hazard ratio of 1.41 (95% confidence interval, 1.21-1.63; P less than .0001).
That association remained significant after adjusting for diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, but the magnitude of the association dropped considerably (HR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.06-1.44; P less than .007) and dropped out altogether after controlling for smoking, substance abuse, sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.81-1.15; P = .691).
Taken together, these findings suggest the association with incident CVD may be explained by combinations of comorbidities that are more prevalent in patients who have PTSD than in those who do not, Dr. Scherrer and his coauthors wrote.
“Because these conditions are more common in patients with PTSD, closer monitoring for comorbidities may be warranted,” they concluded. “Early detection and effective management may reduce the burden of CVD associated with PTSD.”
One study coinvestigator reported consulting for Noblis Therapeutics and grant-related disclosures with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and National Institute of Mental Health.
SOURCE: Scherrer JF et al. J Am Heart Assoc. 2019 Feb 13. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.118.011133.