SAN FRANCISCO – Rape appears to initiate a host of neuroinflammatory changes that could predispose the victim to later inflammatory disease, Maureen Groer, Ph.D., said at the annual meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
“Victims of rape experience more headaches, chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders, breast cancer, and arthritis–many of which have an inflammatory component,” said Dr. Groer, a registered nurse at the University of South Florida, Tampa. “About a third of them also develop posttraumatic stress disorder, which is also associated with an increase in inflammatory disorders.
“I would suggest that this could be explained by psychoneuroimmunology, in which stressors appear to provoke an immune response that can lead to damage of normal tissues if it is prolonged.”
To examine the relationship between rape and inflammatory response, Dr. Groer compared lymphocyte counts and cytokine and hormone levels in a group of 16 healthy control women who had low self-reported stress with those in a group of 15 victims of recent, first-time rape. Blood was collected from the rape victims within 72 hours of their assault (most within 24 hours). The rape victims' mean age was 30 years; that of the control group was 24 years. None of the women were living in domestic abuse or violent situations.
Serum analysis revealed that levels of CD8 cytotoxic cells were significantly higher in rape victims than in controls (10% vs. 6%), and CD19 percentages were significantly lower in rape victims compared with controls (6% vs. 20%).
Compared with controls, rape victims also expressed much higher levels of interferon-γ (10 times higher), interleukin-10 (four times higher), interleukin-6 (five times higher), and C-reactive protein (three times higher). These data suggest an acute inflammatory process.
Nurses who examined the rape victims also noted victims' behavior as controlled (quiet and withdrawn) or uncontrolled (angry or lashing out). Most of the victims were controlled; control correlated with lower CD4 counts, reduced CD4/CD8 ratios, and lower lymphocyte proliferation. “This suggests a state of T-cell suppression,” Dr. Groer said. “The inflammatory response system may dominate and deplete the adaptive resources of the women, and provoke a pathophysiologic state leading to multiple adverse health outcomes.”