Faculty Collaboration Database

Association between posttraumatic stress disorder and lack of exercise, poor diet, obesity, and co-occuring smoking: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Psychol 2018 May;37(5):407-416

Date

04/27/2018

Pubmed ID

29698016

Pubmed Central ID

PMC5922789

DOI

10.1037/hea0000593

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85046024747 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   123 Citations

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Research has shown that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) increases the risk of development of cardiometabolic disease (CMD) including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Whether PTSD is also associated with behavioral risk factors (e.g., diet, exercise, smoking and obesity) for CMD, is less clear.

METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched to obtain papers published between 1980-2016. Studies were reviewed for quality using the Quality of Cohort screen. Significance values, odds ratios (OR), 95% confidence intervals (CI), and tests of homogeneity of variance were calculated.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 1,349 studies were identified from our search and 29 studies met all eligibility criteria. Individuals with PTSD were 5% less likely to have healthy diets (pooled adjusted OR = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.92, 0.98), 9% less likely to engage in physical activity (pooled adjusted OR = 0.91; 95% CI: 0.88, 0.93), 31% more likely to be obese (pooled adjusted OR = 1.31; 95% CI:1.25, 1.38), and about 22% more likely to be current smokers (pooled adjusted OR = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.19, 1.26), than individuals without PTSD.

CONCLUSIONS: Evidence shows PTSD is associated with reduced healthy eating and physical activity, and increased obesity and smoking. The well-established association between PTSD and metabolic and cardiovascular disease may be partly due to poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, high prevalence of obesity, and co-occurring smoking in this population. The well-established association of PTSD with CMD is likely due in part to poor health behaviors in this patient population. (PsycINFO Database Record

Author List

van den Berk-Clark C, Secrest S, Walls J, Hallberg E, Lustman PJ, Schneider FD, Scherrer JF

Author

Ellen Hallberg MD Assistant Professor in the Family Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Diet
Exercise
Female
Health Behavior
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Obesity
Risk Factors
Smoking
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic