In women, the severity of PTSD would increase the risk of having type 2 diabetes. However, women are, according to statistics, twice as likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress as men. PTSD can be caused by traumatic experiences, such as rape, assault, accident, and the loss of a loved one.
Researchers at Harvard University (USA) studied the medical data of nearly 50,000 women between 1989 and 2011.
4% of the women followed were living with post-traumatic stress. Among them, 12% became diabetic at age 60, compared to 7% of women who did not experience PTSD.
For the researchers, overweight and the use of antidepressants are 50% responsible for this increased risk (34% for antidepressants, 14% for overweight). On the other hand, physical inactivity, smoking or alcohol consumption do not seem to be involved.
“Not only is PTSD devastating to mental health, but it also has detrimental effects on physical health, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity,” explains Karestan Koenen, professor of epidemiology at the faculty. of Medicine from Columbia University in New York.
“Our study highlights the urgency of scaling up efforts to improve access to mental health treatment and address factors contributing to diabetes and other chronic diseases,” said Andrea Roberts, researcher at Harvard University School of Public Health, co-author of this research.
In 2013, the World Health Organization released a protocol and guidelines for dealing with PTSD. In case of post-traumatic stress, the patient will rather be referred to specialized treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy or a new technique called eye movement desensitization and reprogramming. “These methods help subjects to reduce vivid, unwanted and repeated memories of traumatic events. It is recommended that training and supervision be reinforced with a view to disseminating them more widely”, explains the Organization.
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