Abstract 13466: Trends in Prevalence of Psychiatric Cardiovascular Risk Factors for Women Veterans

Introduction: Psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been increasingly recognized as cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in the past two decades. US women Veterans (WV) are a growing and high-risk population for CVD. The goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence of these psychiatric CVD risk factors among US WV over a two-decade period.

Methods: The national Veterans Affairs electronic health records were utilized to assess prevalence of the above disorders among US WV who visited a VA facility from 1/1/2000 to 12/31/2019. All diagnoses were based on International Classification of Disease (ICD) 9 ^th and 10 ^th version diagnostic codes.

Results: Over the study period, the population of WV grew from 80,707 to 739,309, and the average age of the WV remained stable, 48 (2000) and 49 (2019) years old. Table 1 reveals the prevalence of these psychiatric CVD risk factors over the study period. Prevalence of each psychiatric disorder increased over the study period, with accelerated growth over the last decade of the study period.

Conclusion: The prevalence and growth of these psychiatric l CVD risk factors among US WV is alarming. Focused research is warranted on potential interventions to reduce, and treat these nontraditional CVD risk factors to improve both psychiatric and cardiovascular health for WV.