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

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-26-2019

Publication Title

Health

Volume

11

Issue

6

First page number:

841

Last page number:

854

Abstract

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 contribute 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.

Keywords

Intimate partner violence; Cardiovascular disease; Women

Disciplines

Cardiovascular Diseases | Diseases | Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence | Medicine and Health Sciences | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Sociology

Language

English

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