Thursday, September 23, 2021

Study finds sexual assault can lead to dementia | Science | In-depth reporting on science and technology | DW

More than one in three women in North America has experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. This is based on statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Globally, the number is roughly the same: an estimated 736 million women around the world “have been exposed to intimate partner violence, sexual violence without a partner, or both at least once in their lives,” writes the UN organization UN Women. It cites a study by the World Health Organization.

That is 30 percent of all girls and women aged 15 and over.

So the problem is pervasive. And now a US study has found that women who experience sexual violence do not only struggle with injuries sustained in the attacks and psychological consequences such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression. But they can also be at higher risk for a certain type of brain disease, which is a precursor to dementia and stroke.

“Sexual assault is an unfortunate but all too common experience for women,” says Rebecca Thurston of the University of Pittsburgh, lead author of the study.

“This stressful experience is important not only for women’s mental health, but also for the health of their brains. This work is an important step in identifying a new risk factor for stroke and dementia in women, ”says Thurston.

Trauma can disrupt blood flow in the brain

Thurston is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Women’s Biobehavioral Health Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. She presented the results of the study at the North American Menopause Society’s 2021 meeting. It is published in the journal Brain Imaging and Behavior.

For the study, Thurston and her team examined 145 women of “midlife” age in the USA. Of the participants, 68% said they had had at least one trauma, the most common trauma being sexual assault, of which 23% of women reported.

MRI scans are a way to determine a person’s risk for brain diseases such as dementia or stroke

The researchers wanted to find out if there was a link between trauma and white matter hyperintensities, which are signs of circulatory disorders and can cause damage to the brain.

White matter hyperintensities show up as small white spots on brain scans. They are early indicators of dementia, a risk of stroke, or similar illnesses. And they can be seen decades before these conditions set in.

Brain scans of the study participants showed that the women who had experienced trauma had more white matter hyperintensities than women without trauma – and that the specific traumatic experience associated with the white matter hyperintensities was sexual assault.

Important data to identify high risk at an early stage

In an earlier study from 2018, Thurston found that women who had experienced sexual assault were at significantly higher risk of developing depression or anxiety and sleeping worse than women who had not been assaulted.

Depression, anxiety, and insomnia have all been linked to poor overall health.

For example, mental disorders can be linked to heart disease, and lack of sleep can be linked to high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.

Thurston says the new study builds on these earlier findings. Even if the researchers in the new study had taken into account mental or other health conditions, they found that women who were attacked still had more white matter hyperintensity – regardless of whether they had other health problems such as depression or PTSD after the attack had developed.

The bottom line is that these early signs of dementia can be directly linked to the attack.

Thurston says research shows that better prevention of sexual assault is needed, but that also shows that doctors need to consider one more indicator when assessing a patient’s risk of stroke and dementia later in life.

Stephanie Faubion, medical director of the North American Menopause Society, says the new study can play an important role in preventive health care.

“Detecting early warning signs of stroke and dementia is critical to effective intervention,” says Faubion. “Studies like this one provide important information about the long-term effects of traumatic experiences on a woman’s general well-being and mental health.”

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source https://www.bisayanews.com/2021/09/23/study-finds-sexual-assault-can-lead-to-dementia-science-in-depth-reporting-on-science-and-technology-dw/

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