The 9/11 attacks were highly successful from the standpoint of inflicting massive psychological damage for an extended period of time using very little resources on the part of the perpetrators.

Stress and fear in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may be making Americans sicker, according to a groundbreaking new study by UC Irvine researchers.

For the first time, acute stress responses to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have been linked to a 53 percent increased incidence in cardiovascular ailments over three years following Sept. 11. These findings persist even after considering health status before Sept. 11, degree of exposure to the attacks, and risk factors such as cholesterol problems, diabetes, smoking, and body weight. The results were especially strong among individuals reporting ongoing worry about terrorism after Sept. 11; these individuals were three to four times more likely to report a doctor-diagnosed heart problem two to three years after the attacks.

“Our study is the first to show that even among people who had no personal connection to the victims, those who reported high levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks were more than twice as likely to report being diagnosed by their doctors with cardiovascular ailments like high blood pressure, heart problems and stroke up to three years later,” said Alison Holman, professor in nursing science and lead researcher for the study, which is published in this month’s Archives of General Psychiatry.

Read the rest of this entry »