(Press-News.org) War-time stress may lead to an increased risk death by coronary heart disease in later life. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Health Services Research surveyed a cohort of 55 year old Finnish WW2 veterans in 1980, and then carried out a follow-up study 28 years later.
Dr Seppo Nikkari and his team from the University of Tampere in Finland conducted the study. He said "During the 28 year follow up , out of 412 deaths, 140 were due to coronary heart disease (CHD), making wounded veterans 1.7 times more likely to die from CHD than the comparison group".
The study also found that those who had been wounded in action had a higher BMI, a greater history of self-reported depression and were more likely to be claiming disability pension. This also suggests that as well as increased risk of PTSD, physical trauma in early life may cause longstanding physiological implications.
Dr Nikkari added "our findings support the concept that the effects of traumatic events at early adulthood may have long-term consequences on an individual's health".
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Notes to Editors
1. Casualties of War: wounded veterans more likely to die of coronary heart disease
Tarja Kunnas, Tiina Solakivi, Jaana Renko, Anne Kalela, Seppo T Nikkari
BMC Public Health (in press)
Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
Article citation and URL available on request at press@biomedcentral.com on the day of publication.
2. BMC Public Health BMC Public Health is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in the epidemiology of disease and the understanding of all aspects of public health. The journal has a special focus on the social determinants of health, the environmental, behavioral, and occupational correlates of health and disease, and the impact of health policies, practices and interventions on the community.
3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.
Casualties of war: Wounded veterans more likely to die of coronary heart disease
2011-01-27
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