New research suggests women suffering from elevated symptoms post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are 60 percent more likely to have a heart attack or stroke when compared with women who have never experienced trauma.

A team of researchers surveyed nearly 50,000 younger and middle-aged women in the Nurses' Health Study II, 80 percent of whom had experienced a traumatic event in their lives, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health reported. Over half of this group reported no symptoms of PTSD, and those who did suffer from the condition were split evenly between those having one to three symptoms and those with four or more symptoms.

The findings showed women with the most symptoms had a 60 percent higher risk of suffering a cardiovascular even or stroke, and women with trauma who reported no PTSD symptoms had a 50 percent elevated risk; the risk of those in the group with one to three symptoms remained unchanged.

"Posttraumatic stress is truly heartbreaking. Our findings suggest that psychological impact of trauma is not limited to a woman's emotional health but also affects her heart health," said first author Jennifer Sumner, Epidemiology Merit Fellow at Columbia's Mailman School and Visiting Scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School.

The researchers are urging women who have experienced trauma to talk to their doctor about their cardiovascular risks, even if they are not experiencing symptoms of PTSD.

"PTSD emerged as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in a sample of younger and middle-aged women all under the age of 65. This suggests that cardiovascular health and related risk factors should be assessed early in clinical settings," Sumner said.

Past research on the subject of PTSD has largely focused on male populations, this new research sheds light on the condition's effect on women who have experienced a wide range of traumas including sexual assault and natural disasters.

"PTSD is twice as common in women than in men, and women with PTSD are more likely to have severe and persistent symptoms," said senior author Karestan Koenen, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia's Mailman School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School. "Likewise, women with cardiovascular disease are more likely to be hospitalized and die from a heart attack compared with men. For all these reasons, it's critical that we understand how PTSD contributes to cardiovascular disease in women."

The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Circulation.