Trauma of War Doubles Asthma Risk
Reported March 16, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Living through the trauma of war seems to increase the risk of developing asthma, and those who are most traumatized are twice as likely to develop the condition as those who are least traumatized by their experiences.
Researchers based their findings on a random sample of just over 2,000 Kuwaiti civilians, aged 50 to 69, who endured the Iraqi invasion and seven-month occupation of their country in 1990.
Between 2003 and 2005, researchers quizzed these civilians about their health, including a diagnosis of asthma after liberation, their experiences of the war, and lifestyle factors, such as smoking and weight.
The researchers acknowledge that assessing the impact of war-related trauma is difficult, because some of the stressors may be unique to a particular situation and the circumstances can be complex. So they used a validated questionnaire, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, and supplemented the information received on the questionnaires with face to face interviews to capture individual experiences.
Around one in six men and one in five women did not experience trauma during the war. But two thirds of the men and more than half the women feared for their lives.
Among the 413 participants with a low war related stress score, only one reported having been assaulted. Three said they had been arrested, and 28 had had their houses searched. None had witnessed torture, rape, or executions.
Among the 517 with a high stress score, around one in 10 had been arrested. One in six had been assaulted, and more than half had witnessed torture. New cases of asthma after liberation had been diagnosed in 6.6 percent of the men and 9.7 percent of the women.
There was a direct correlation between the amount of trauma experienced and the risk of developing asthma, even after adjusting for factors likely to influence the results, including exposure to air pollution as a result of burning oil fires. Those who had experienced the most trauma were twice as likely to develop asthma as those who had been the least traumatized.
The authors were quoted as saying, “Although prior research has documented the significant and persistent psychological toll of war, these findings implicated even broader health effects.”
SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, March 15, 2010
