PTSD increases your risk of lupus: Harvard study shows link between mental health and debilitating autoimmune disease

  • Women who have PTSD are almost three times as likely to develop lupus as those who have not, research shows
  • In the first ever study of PTSD and lupus in women, Harvard researchers find that PTSD is more closely tied to lupus than any other risk factor, including smoking
  • Research may indicate that mental health care could help decrease risk of autoimmune diseases 

By NATALIE RAHHAL FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: | Updated:

Women who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or have experienced trauma are nearly three times more likely to develop lupus than others, new research shows. 

A Harvard study of more than 50,000 women over the course of 24 years found that the greater degree of trauma a woman had experienced, the more likely it was that she developed lupus later in life.

There is a greater correlation between PTSD and lupus in women than any other risk factor, including smoking and obesity.

About five million people worldwide suffer from lupus, a chronic, incurable autoimmune disease that causes kidney inflammation and can affect many organ systems.

Chicken and egg: Stress often corresponds with lupus flare ups, which often causes rashes, muscle and joint pain and fatigue, but lupus can can also lead to stress. Researchers think that the sustained state of stress response that comes from PTSD contributes to flare ups, and possibly the development of lupus

Chicken and egg: Stress often corresponds with lupus flare ups, which often causes rashes, muscle and joint pain and fatigue, but lupus can can also lead to stress. Researchers think that the sustained state of stress response that comes from PTSD contributes to flare ups, and possibly the development of lupus

Previous research has only looked at links between primarily male veterans with PTSD and the disease. 

Ninety percent of people diagnosed with lupus are women, and yet this is the first study on PTSD and Lupus done on women. 

Lupus flares can be as minor as a rash, but can also come with muscle and joint pain and fatigue. Severe flare ups can cause fluid to build up around the heart, and even lead to kidney failure. 

Selena Gomez, only 25, revealed on Thursday, September 14 that her lupus led her to need a kidney transplant from her best friend, Francia Raisa

Selena Gomez, only 25, revealed on Thursday, September 14 that her lupus led her to need a kidney transplant from her best friend, Francia Raisa

In this case, people with lupus may even need a kidney transplant, as Selena Gomez did last week.  

Because lupus can directly affect the nervous system, stress may bring on flare ups.But, it can be 'tricky to figure out what’s causing what,' says study author Dr Andrea Roberts. 'You need to be careful about which came first.'

This Harvard study is based on the responses of more than 116,000 nurses, who have been answering biennial health questionnaires since 1989. 

This allowed the researchers to see that women had reported traumatic events, including serious car accidents and sexual abuse, prior to showing symptoms and being diagnosed with lupus.

The researchers compared data for women that had experienced trauma and likely had PTSD, women with 'subclinical PTSD,' meaning they had limited symptoms of trauma, and those who reported no trauma.

Not only were those women that experienced trauma more likely to develop lupus, the greater their level of trauma, the greater the likelihood of a lupus diagnosis was.

PTSD has been associated with other autoimmune diseases as well as cardiovascular problems.  

PTSD 'creates constant state of vigilance,' says Dr Karen H. Costenbader, another author of the study. 

In this fight-or-flight state, the heart rate goes up, and cortisol release is less controlled, which leads to inflammation.

This stress response is exactly why lupus - which is marked by inflammation - flare ups are connected to, and sometimes indistinguishable from stress. 

'Lupus is such an enigmatic disease,' says Dr Costenbader, an advisory counsel for the Lupus Foundation of America. 

'It affects many different organ systems and we don’t really have a good idea of what causes it; it’s complicated.'

Scientists believe that the disease is partially genetic, and partially environmental. But this study may have found 'bio-markers of what’s going on in these people with PTSD that may have a lower threshold for developing autoimmune diseases like lupus,' Dr Costenbader says. 

This study may shed new light on the importance of mental health to preventing chronic physical health problems as well. 

This research 'asks us to turn our attention to the mind body relationship,' says Dr Roberts. 'How we feel about things really does affect our physical bodies.'

In this case, the Harvard researchers found that there was a stronger correlation between a mental health issue and a physical disease than any other risk factors, including smoking or obesity. 

'Mental health issues, like PTSD are 'substantially under-treated,' says Dr Roberts. 

'We don’t know if preventing PTSD would prevent the development of lupus,' says Dr Costenbader, but this study 'suggests that treatment [of PTSD] might decrease risk.
  

 

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