Is Intimate Partner Violence a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease in Women? A Review of the Preponderance of the Evidence

Rose Eva Constantino, Alona D. Angosta, Andrew Thomas Reyes, Brayden Kameg, Linden Wu, Jordan Cobb, Vivian Hui, Daisy Palompon, Reema Safadi, Elizabeth Schlenk
2019 Health (Irvine, Calif.)  
This paper examines the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) experience in women and cardiovascular disease (CVD), and determines if there is a preponderance of literature evidence. Research is reviewed dealing with the different biopsychosocial factors affecting the relationship between IPV and CVD. As a result of our review, we propose a framework on the biopsychosocial pathway of IPV as a risk factor of CVD of women. Our proposed framework portrays how IPV experiences
more » ... te to long-term biopsychosocial changes that increase the risk of CVD among female victims of IPV. These biopsychosocial changes include chronic inflammation and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction, metabolic or endocrine dysfunction, and mood symptomatology. In our framework, we also included strategies to prevent risks in developing CVD through the three levels of prevention. Because gender disparities exist when examining CVD risk and development, the correlation between IPV and CVD risk in women must be explored. This framework may provide a theoretical foundation for further research on the relationship between IPV and CVD among women.
doi:10.4236/health.2019.116067 fatcat:cfi64fekwzb6pcnt232mwr75y4