Skip to main content
Download PDF
- Main
Association Between Early Trauma and Ideal Cardiovascular Health Among Black Americans: Results From the Morehouse-Emory Cardiovascular (MECA) Center for Health Equity.
- Islam, Shabatun J;
- Hwan Kim, Jeong;
- Joseph, Emma;
- Topel, Matthew;
- Baltrus, Peter;
- Liu, Chang;
- Ko, Yi-An;
- Almuwaqqat, Zakaria;
- Mujahid, Mahasin S;
- Sims, Mario;
- Mubasher, Mohamed;
- Ejaz, Kiran;
- Searles, Charles;
- Dunbar, Sandra B;
- Pemu, Priscilla;
- Taylor, Herman;
- Bremner, J Douglas;
- Vaccarino, Viola;
- Quyyumi, Arshed A;
- Lewis, Tené T
Published Web Location
https://doi.org/10.1161/circoutcomes.121.007904Abstract
Background
Early trauma (general, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse before age 18 years) has been associated with both cardiovascular disease risk and lifestyle-related risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. Despite higher prevalence, the association between early trauma and cardiovascular health (CVH) has been understudied in Black Americans, especially those from low-income backgrounds, who may be doubly vulnerable. Therefore, we investigated the association between early trauma and CVH, particularly among low-income Black Americans.Methods
We recruited 457 Black adults (age 53±10, 38% male) without known cardiovascular disease from the Atlanta, GA, metropolitan area using personalized, community-based recruitment methods. The Early Trauma Inventory was administered to assess overall early traumatic life experiences which include physical, sexual, emotional abuse, and general trauma. Our primary outcome was the American Heart Association Life's Simple 7, which is a set of 7 CVH metrics, including 4 lifestyle-related factors (smoking, body mass index, physical activity, and diet) and three physiologically measured health factors (blood pressure, total blood cholesterol, and blood glucose). We used linear regression models adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and depression to test the association between early trauma and CVH and tested the early trauma by household income (<$50 000) interaction.Results
Higher levels of early trauma were associated with lower Life's Simple 7 scores (β, -0.05 [95% CI, -0.09 to -0.01], P=0.02, per 1 unit increase in the Early Trauma Inventory score) among lower, but not higher, income Black participants (P value for interaction=0.04). Subtypes of early trauma linked to Life's Simple 7 were general trauma, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse. Exploratory analyses demonstrated that early trauma was only associated with the body mass index and smoking components of Life's Simple 7.Conclusions
Early trauma, including general trauma, emotional abuse, and sexual abuse, may be associated with worse CVH among low-, but not higher-income Black adults.Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.
Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Enter the password to open this PDF file:
File name:
-
File size:
-
Title:
-
Author:
-
Subject:
-
Keywords:
-
Creation Date:
-
Modification Date:
-
Creator:
-
PDF Producer:
-
PDF Version:
-
Page Count:
-
Page Size:
-
Fast Web View:
-
Preparing document for printing…
0%