Different profiles of mental and physical health and stress hormone response in women victims of intimate partner violence

Concepción Blasco-Ros, Joe Herbert, Manuela Martinez

1Violence and Health Research Group, Department of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Spain

2John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK

Different profiles of mental and physical health and stress hormone response in women victims of intimate partner violence

Concepción Blasco-Ros1, Joe Herbert2, Manuela Martinez1

1Violence and Health Research Group, Department of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Spain

2John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, UK

Objectives: To analyse the individual differences in the impact that intimate male partner violence (IPV) has on a woman’s depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, and to determine the association of the different profiles of mental dysfunction with cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) basal saliva levels as well as physical health symptoms. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in which IPV victims (n=73) and control non-abused (n=31) women participated. Information was obtained through structured interviews and saliva samples were collected for hormonal assays under baseline conditions.

Results: There were three profiles of mental symptoms in IPV subjects: no symptoms (n=19); with depressive symptoms (n=36), and depressive/PTSD symptom (n=18). None of the non-abused women had depressive or PTSD symptoms. The stress hormone response differed between groups. Only the IPV-depressive group had higher evening cortisol, and both morning and evening DHEA, but lower morning cortisol/DHEA ratio than non-abused women. Furthermore, there were differences between the IPV groups. The IPV-depressive group had lower morning cortisol and morning cortisol/DHEA ratio than the IPV-no symptoms and lower morning cortisol/DHEA ratio than the IPV-depressive/PTSD group. With respect to the physical symptoms there was an association between the mean of symptoms and the profile of mental health, the incidence being higher in the depressive/PTSD group than in the other groups. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that there are individual differences in the impact that IPV has on the stress response and health status in women victims.

ARTICLE INFO

Article history:

Received in 19 Dec 2014

Received in revised form 23 Dec 2014

Accepted 9 Jan 2014

Available online 15 Jan 2014

Depression

Dehydroepiandrosterone

Hydrocortisone

Spouse abuse

Symptom assessment

Stress disorders

Post-traumatic

Violence

Women

1. Introduction

Intimate male partner violence (IPV) refers to actual or threatened physically, psychologically or sexually abusive acts committed against women by their current or former male partners. IPV is considered a chronic social stressor for women as this kind of abusive relationships can last for decades[1-3]. Social stress, defined as the stress derived from a social interaction among members in same species, is considered the main source of stress in human beings and, consequently, increases the risk of developing health alterations[4-6]. Cross-sectional, prospective and retrospective studies have consistently demonstrated that living with a violent intimate male partner is a significant contributor to women’s adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Studies which compare women exposed to IPV with those who are not show that common mental sequelae include depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, suicidal behavior, sleep and eating disorders, low self-esteem, personality disorders, increased likelihood of substance abuse, and social dysfunction[1,7-18]. To our knowledge, there are few studies that have tried to assess mental health profiles on IPV women victims by examining patterns of distress and adjustment[19]. Thus, it is clearly important to assess individual differences to the deleterious effects of IPV on mental health following a person-oriented perspective[17,19-24]. Recent studies have found depressive symptomatology following IPV in 54% to 78%, and PTSD in 18% to 74% ofwomen victims. Furthermore, these women have often comorbid disorders such as mood, anxiety and/or substance abuse disorders[15,17,19,25,26]. IPV has also a great impact on women’s physical health with short- and long-term consequences. First, in case of physical violence, the most common and immediate consequences are injuries, and neurological sequelae of violent acts. However, it is the fear and stress experienced through violence that results in longterm chronic stress-related physical problems. In general, abused women report a low self-perceived health[2,27-29], and higher incidence of different signs somatic symptoms, and illnesses related to the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, muscular, urinary, and reproductive systems[2,30,31]. The most frequent health problems reported in IPV studies are headaches, nightmares, loss of appetite, back, pelvic, muscular and stomach pain, hypertension, asthma, diabetes, and gynecological symptoms[2,31-34]. Futhermore, other physical disturbances have been studied such as different markers of immune system functioning[35,36], with different results depending on the violence experienced and other mediating factors.

IPV is a chronic stressful experience with high impact on women’s health, as it has been widely endorsed in the literature[2,27,37]. With this in mind, the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis is the mechanism by which stress regulates its physiological response, and a large number of studies include its markers to measure its impact. This is the main reason why cortisol (and also, but not so far DHEA), the hormone released during the stress response, is one of the most studied biomarker and recognized to have an impact on the rest of body systems[38-40]. In this sense, studies have associated hormone levels with mental health status. It has been demonstrated the impact of IPV on women’s HPA axis[1,25,26,41-45]. Studies that compared nontraumatized healthy women with female victims of IPV found different results. While Griffinet al.[25], reported lower early morning plasma cortisol levels in female victims, Basuet al.[1], found no differences between non-traumatized and female victims. On the other hand, the comparison between female victims of IPV found a variety of results depending on the incidence of PTSD and/or depression. While some studies found higher cortisol levels in women with current PTSD[26] or even remitted PTSD[43], another study reported no difference between female victims with PTSD and those without it[45], and Griffinet al.[25], found lower cortisol levels in female victims with PTSD. Furthermore, those studies that compared female victims with PTSD and those with a comorbid PTSD/depression found no differences[1,25].

The aim of this study was twofold to analyse the individual differences in the impact that IPV has on a woman’s mental and physical health and to determine the association of the different profiles of health impact with cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) basal saliva levels.

2. Material and methods

2.1. Subjects

The present study is part of a larger research project on the impact of IPV on women’s health carried out in the Valencian Community of Spain[15,46,47]. All participants were of Spanish nationality. Female victims of IPV (n=73) were recruited from the 24 h centers for helping women (which offer information, and help from lawyers and social workers, and some psychological interventions for the women) in the three provinces of the Valencian Community of Spain (Alicante, Castellon and Valencia). A control group of women not exposed to IPV (n=31) was recruited through women’s clubs (a civil organization located in each city and town that only women can join and in which they develop a wide arrange of activities such as receiving information, courses, trips,etc.).

2.2. Ethical considerations

The study was approved by the University of Valencia research ethics committee, and prior informed written consent was obtained from all participants. Subjects did not receive any money or other inducement for their participation.

2.3. Procedure

The study consisted of a structured interview in which trained female psychologists asked women questions about their lives and health. In general, each woman was interviewed four to six times, and the duration of each session was approximately 1.5 h. A comprehensive questionnaire was designed for use in a face-to-faceinterview. The majority of questions were designed to obtain objective factual reports. Additionally, women were asked to provide saliva samples for hormonal assays (details below).

奥苏泊尔认为，知识迁移就是人们已有的认知结构对新知识学习发生影响。而如果已知的知识技能对学习的新知识技能产生干扰，起消极阻碍的影响，称为负迁移。因此，教师应重视负迁移带来的消极效应，尤其是对于容易混淆的计算问题，更需要克服定式思维，通过辨析、纠错等活动突出新知识的内涵、特征和规律，提升学习效率。

2.4. Questionnaires

The questionnaires from which information for the present study was obtained are described below, and more detailed information is given in our previous articles[44,46].

The sociodemographic profile included age, educationlevel and marital status items. The relationship with the aggressor/partner included data on the cohabitation with him at the time of the interviews and during the last year.

2.5. Characteristics of intimate male partner violence

A questionnaire was constructed to obtain detailed information about the different types of violence (physical, psychological and sexual) toward the women perpetrated by their partners (see 46 for more detailed information). Women gave answers of either “yes” or “no” regarding the experience of each act.

2.6. Mental health assessment

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess depressive symptoms[48], and the total scores on the BDI ranged from 0 to 63. Women with BDI scores ranging from 0 to 8 were considered as having no symptoms of depression, from 9 to 18 as mild, from 9 to 29 as moderate, and from 30 to 63 to severe depressive symptoms. The Spanish version of the BDI that was used in our study has been validated by Conde and Useros[49], who obtained an internal consistency coefficient of 0.88. In our study, the cut-off score was set to 18. The incidence and severity of symptoms of current PTSD were assessed with Echeburúa’s Severity of Symptom Scale of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder[50]. This is a structured interview based on DSM-IV criteria. The instrument has a high internal consistency with a Cronbach’s α coefficient of 0.92 and a high test-retest reliability as well as a good discriminant, concurrent, and construct validity. A stressor was assessed by asking the woman if she had experienced an unusual, extremely distressful event (irrespective of whether or not it was IPV-related). Either type of event was considered a qualifying trauma when it met the DSM-IV criteria for PTSD and when distressing symptoms persisted for at least 4 weeks. Women were also asked about the lifetime incidence of thoughts and attempts of suicide. Detailed information about women’s mental health assessment is given in Picó-Alfonsoet al[15].

2.7. Physical health assessment

Self-report physical health status was assessed using a questionnaire designed by the research team. A symptom is defined as a subjective evidence of physical disturbance observed by the patient. The symptom inventory consisted of 35 symptoms and women were queried about their incidence in the year preceding the study. Furthermore, a total number of symptoms as well as a summatory of specific system symptoms was also calculated.

2.8. Saliva samples

Saliva samples for the analysis of the level of cortisol and DHEA were also collected. The participants provided a minimum of 0.5 mL of saliva in a plastic tube twice a day (between 08:00 and 09:00, and between 20:00 and 21:00) for four consecutive days at home, starting the fourth day after the beginning of menstruation. Saliva samples were frozen in women’s freezer and brought to the freezer of the Department of Psychobiology in a mobile freezer, and then kept frozen at -21℃. Finally, all samples were sent to the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at University of Cambridge, UK, for analysis.

2.8.1. Hormone assays

Cortisol was measured by validated ELISA on 20 μL samples of saliva (antibody Cambio UK) without extraction (intra-assay variation: 4.1%; inter-assay: 7.6%). DHEA was measured by validated radioimmunoassay on 333 μL samples after extraction into hexane/ether (4:1) (antibody Bioclin; intra-assay variation: 5.1%; inter-assay: 11.2%). Details are given in Harriset al.[51]. Data from the four daily morning and evening collections were summed to give a mean value at each time point.

2.9. Statistical analyses

Women were classified into four groups depending on the incidence of IPV and their mental health status: non-abused women, and abused women with no depressive or PTSD symptoms (IPV-no symptoms), with depressive symptoms (IPV-depressive symptoms), and with both depressive and PTSD symptoms (IPV-depressive/PTSD symptoms). The four groups were compared with respect to age, and the profile of physical symptoms and mental health status using Oneway analysis of variance (ANOVAs). Regarding the level of education, marital status, types of IPV, the incidence of clinical depression and PTSD the comparisons were assessed by using Pearson’sChi-square tests. Comparisons between groups with respect to endocrine measures (cortisol and DHEA analysis were carried out after logarithmic transformation of the data) were assessed by ANOVAs withBonferronipost hoccomparisons. When the criteria of ANOVA were not fulfilled, Welch’s tests were calculated, and Games-Howellpost hoccomparisons applied. A significance level ofP＜0.05 was established for all analyses. All statistical analyses were conducted using the SPSS for Windows statistical package Version 19.0.

3. Results

3.1. Participant’s characteristics and health profiles

There were no differences between groups in either age (Vw[3, 49.13]=1.25) or education [χ2(18,N=104)=16.60] (Table 1). There was a significant association between the marital status and group [χ2(12,N=104)=33.40,P＜0.001]. The percentage of “married” women was higher than expected by chance in the non-abused group, whereas the contrary pattern was observed in the category of “separated/ divorced”. There were no significant association between this variable and any of the three IPV-groups [χ2(8,N= 73)=9.63]. On the other hand, there was a significant association between the cohabitation with the aggressor/ partner at the time of the interviews and the group [χ2(3,N= 104)=19.95,P＜0.001]. The proportion of women cohabiting with the aggressor/partner was significantly higher than expected in the nonabused group (96.8%) and lower in the IPV-no symptoms group (42.1%). However, this was not apparent during the year previous to the interviews [χ2(3,N=104)=5.43]. In the IPV-groups, there was no significant association between the cohabitation and the group either during the previous year [χ2(2,N=73)=3.06] or at the time of the interviews: [χ2 (2,N=73)=1.47].

All women (100%) in the IPV groups were exposed to psychological abuse by their partners. Furthermore, over a half of women on each IPV group were physically abused, and around one third of them were sexually abused by their partners. There was no association between the incidence of physical and sexual abuse and the mental health profile of women victims of IPV: physical [χ2(2,N=73)=2.19, n.s.], and sexual [χ2(2,N=73)=1.33].

3.2. Different profiles of depressive and PTSD symptomatology

One hundred and four women participated in this study. Seventy three were female victims of IPV and 31 were women no exposed to IPV (non-abused women). Depending on the incidence of symptoms of depression and PTSD female victims were distributed into three groups: (1) Female victims of IPV with no symptoms of depression or PTSD (IPV-no symptoms group;n=19); (2) Female victims of IPVwith symptoms of depression (IPV-depressive group;n=36), and (3) Female victims of IPV with symptoms of depression and PTSD (IPV-depressive/PTSD group;n=18). None of the non-abused women had either symptoms of depression or PTSD (non-abused group;n=31).

Table 1 Characteristics of nonabused women and women victims of intimate male partner violence with no symptoms, depressive symptoms, and depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms.

The scores for depression were significantly higher in both the IPV-depressive and the IPV-depressive/ PTSD groups than in the IPV-no symptoms and nonabused groups (P＜0.001). Moreover, the IPV-depressive/ PTSD group had higher scores than the IPV-depressive group (P＜0.05). In the IPV-depressive group women were distributed mainly among “mild” (72.2%) symptoms, while the highest level of severity was found in IPV-depressive/PTSD group: 38.9% of women suffered “severe”symptoms, these percentages being higher than expected by chance in both groups. On the other hand, PTSD scores were significantly higher, not only in those with clinical PTSD, but also in the IPV-depressive group than in the IPV-no symptoms and non-abused groups (P＜0.001). Furthermore, the IPV-depressive/PTSD group had higher scores than all the other groups (P＜0.001). Regarding suicide, the incidence of both suicidal thoughts and attempts was associated with the group: thoughts [χ2(3,N=104)=28.67,P＜0.001] and attempts [χ2(3,N=104)=12.21,P＜0.01]. In the case of thoughts, the incidence was higher than expected in both IPV-depressive and IPV-depressive/PTSD groups, and only in the latter group regarding suicidal attempts. On the contrary, the incidence of both thoughts and attempts of suicide were lower than expected in the nonabused group (Table 2).

3.3. Association of the different profiles of mental health dysfunction with physical health

The four groups of women were compared with regards to the incidence of perceived physical symptoms during the year prior to the interviews. Detailed information of total amount of physical symptoms as well as the incidence of each specific symptom is given in Table 3.

There were differences between groups in the total amount of physical symptoms (Vw[3, 44.14]=52.71;P＜0.001).Post hoccomparisons indicated that the IPV-depressive/PTSD group had higher incidence of symptoms than the other three groups (P＜0.001), and the IPV-depressive group showed a higher mean than non-abused (P＜0.001) and IPV-no symptoms group (P＜0.05).

There were differences between groups in the total amount of symptoms of specific systems: nervous (Vw[3, 45.28]= 38.02;P＜0.001), muscular (Vw[3, 48.13]=26.39;P＜0.001), reproductive (F[3, 103]=4.04;P＜0.01), digestive (Vw[3, 44.92] =14.25;P＜0.001), circulatory (Vw[3, 44.30]=22.38;P＜0.001) and the endocrine system (Vw[3, 41.83]=60.92;P＜0.001) with the only exception of urinary system and skin (F[3, 103] =0.60).Post hoccomparisons showed a higher amount of symptoms in both IPV-depressive/PTSD and IPV-depressive groups than in the non-abused group (P＜0.001, reproductive system:P＜0.05). The IPV-depressive/PTSD group showed a higher amount of symptoms in nervous, muscular and endocrine systems (P＜0.001), as well as in digestive and circulatory systems (P＜0.05) than the IPV-no symptom group, and a higher number of symptoms in nervous andendocrine systems than the IPV-depressive group (P＜0.001). Furthermore, IPV-depressive group showed a higher amount of muscular symptoms than the IPV-no symptom group (P＜0.05). The only difference between IPV-no symptoms and the non-abused group was a higher amount of symptoms in the endocrine system in the former group (P＜0.05).

Table 3 Physical symptoms suffered by nonabused women and women victims of violence with no symptoms, depressive symptoms, and depressive and PTSD symptoms during the last year.

Twenty-six specific symptoms out of 35 were significantly associated with the group: headache [χ2(3,N=104)=15.87,P＜0.001], faintness [χ2(3,N=104)=26.58,P＜0.001], numbness [χ2(3,N=104)=27.85,P＜0.001], trembling hands [χ2(3,N=104)=27.05,P＜0.001], ringing ears [χ2(3,N=104)=21.51,P＜0.001], dizziness [χ2(3,N=104)=21.14,P＜0.001], blurred vision [χ2(3,N=104)=14.94,P＜0.01], nightmares [χ2(3,N=104)=27.95,P＜0.001], low energy [χ2(3,N=104)=34.44,P＜0.001], fatigue [χ2(3,N=104)=24.83,P＜0.001], muscular pain [χ2(3,N=104)=22.35,P＜0.001], back pain [χ2(3,N=104)=15.01,P＜0.01], pelvic pain [χ2(3,N=104)=8.05,P＜0.05], nausea [χ2(3,N=104)=10.88,P＜0.05], vomiting [χ2(3,N=104)=14.48,P＜0.01], heartburn [χ2(3,N=104)=14.26,P＜0.01], stomach pain [χ2(3,N=104)=20.04,P＜0.001], diarrhea [χ2(3,N=104)=10.88,P＜0.05], bloating [χ2(3,N=104)=9.02,P＜0.05], anal bleeding [χ2(3,N=104)=10.55,P＜0.05], chest pain [χ2(3,N=104)=27.95,P＜0.001], palpitations [χ2(3,N=104)=29.19,P＜0.001], shortness of breath [χ2(3,N=104)=20.76,P＜0.001], weight change [χ2(3,N=104)=34.18,P＜0.001], and appetite lost [χ2(3,N=104)=40.43,P＜0.001], with the exception of most symptoms of the reproductive system: amenorrhoea [χ2(3,N=104)=1.23], menstrual pain [χ2(3,N=104)=0.48], vaginal bleeding [χ2(3,N=104)=2.54], vaginal pain [χ2(3,N=104)=6.10], painful intercourse [χ2(3,N=104)=5.32], constipation [χ2(3,N=104)=7.31], leakage of urine [χ2(3,N=104)=5.41], pruritus [χ2(3,N=104)=1.89] and eruptions [χ2(3,N=104)=0.92] (Table 3).

Table 4 Basal saliva levels of cortisol, DHEA (ng/ml, and ratio C/DHEA (nMol/L in the morning and evening in Nonabused women and women victims of Intimate male partner violence with no symptoms, depressive symptoms, and depressive/posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. (Mean and standard deviation, SD.

The incidence of the following symptoms was higher than expected by chance in the IPV-depressive/PTSD group: headache, faintness, numbness, trembling hands, ringing ears, dizziness, nightmares, low energy, fatigue, muscular pain, back pain, pelvic pain, nausea, vomiting, heartburn, stomach pain, diarrhea, chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, weight change, and loose of appetite. Also in the IPV-depressive group eight symptoms had a higher incidence than expected: headache, blurred vision, low energy, muscular pain, bloating, anal bleeding, chest pain, palpitations, and shortness of breath. On the contrary, just two symptoms, vomiting and palpitations, had a lower incidence than expected in IPV-no symptoms group. Regarding nonabused group, almost all symptoms showed a lower incidence than expected, with the exception of vomiting, diarrhea, and bloating.

3.4. Association of the different profiles of mental health dysfunction with cortisol and DHEA basal saliva levels

The four groups of women were compared with regards to the basal level of cortisol and DHEA as well as the ratio cortisol/DHEA (C/DHEA). Mean basal levels and comparisons between groups are given in Table 4. There were significant differences in mean morning and evening cortisol levels between the groups [ANOVA: morning:F[3, 103]=4.14;P=.008; evening: Vw[3, 42.89]=5.34;P=.003F(1, 115)].Post hoccomparisons revealed that morning levels were lower in the IPV-depressive group than in the IPV-no symptoms group (P＜0.05), while evening cortisol levels were significantly higher in IPV-depressive group than in the non-abused group (P＜0.01). Both morning and evening DHEA were significantly different between groups (morning: F [3, 103]=4.51;P=0.005); evening: Vw[3, 45.19]=4.45;P=0.008).Post hoccomparisons showed that both morning and evening DHEA levels were higher in the IPV-depressive group than in the non-abused group (P＜0.01).

As it is shown in Figure 1, morning C/DHEA ratio was significantly different between the groups (Vw[3,48.86]=7.51;P＜0.001).Post hoccomparisons indicated that the ratio was lower in the IPV-depressive group than in all the other groups (non-abused:P＜0.001; IPV-no symptoms:P＜0.05; and IPV-depressive/PTSD:P＜0.01).

Figure 1. Mean±SD of morning C/DHEA ratio (nMol/L) in evening in nonabused women and women victims of intimate male partner violence with no symptoms, depressive symptoms, and depressive/posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms.***: Differs from nonabused group; P＜0.001, IPV-No symptoms; P＜0.05, and IPV-depressive/PTSD; P＜0.01.

4. Discussion

Our results show that there are individual differences in the impact that the exposure to IPV has on women’s health. Thus, while some women show no symptoms of either depression or PTSD (the IPV-no symptoms group), others develop mostly mild depression (IPV-depressive group), and the rest women a comorbid more severe depression and PTSD (IPV-depressive/PTSD group). Thus, exposure to IPV does not necessarily lead to the development of psychopathology in all women or to a unique pattern of mental ill-health. A more detailed assessment of mental health in female victims may aid the design of appropriate intervention policies[15,19,20,23,24].

With respect to physical health there is an association between the amount of somatic symptoms and mental health deterioration profile. The main results shown that the IPV-depressive/PTSD group had the highest incidence in the total amount of symptoms followed by the IPV-depressive group in comparison with the IPV-no symptoms group and the non-abused group. Furthermore, the incidence of the specific symptoms headache, faintness, numbness, trembling hands, ringing ears, dizziness, nightmares, low energy, fatigue, muscular pain, back pain, pelvic pain, nausea, vomiting, heartburn, stomach pain, diarrhea, chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, weight change, and loose of appetite was higher than expected by chance in the IPV-depressive/PTSD group, while headache, blurred vision, low energy, muscular pain, bloating, anal bleeding, chest pain, palpitations, and shortness of breath was higher than expected by chance in the IPV-depressive group. These results are consistent with other studies that analyzed physical symptomatology in women victims[32,34].

Finally, there is also an association between levels of stress hormones and mental health deterioration. A disturbed HPA axis could either reflect or contribute to the array of mental stress-related disorders[40,52-54]. Our results clearly demonstrate that dysregulation of the HPA axis and basal levels of DHEA are particularly associated with depressive symptoms in women exposed to IPV. The IPV-depressive group had lower morning cortisol levels than the IPV-no symptoms group but higher evening cortisol levels and both higher morning and evening DHEA levels in comparison to the nonabused group. More significantly, they had a lower morning cortisol/DHEA ratio than all the other groups. However, no significant alterations compared to non-abused controls were found in those women with neither depressive nor PTSD symptoms (IPV-no symptoms) or those with comorbidity of these two disorders (IPV-depressive/PTSD group). Previous studies reported that female victims of IPV who developed PTSD had higher morning levels of cortisol than those that did not[25,26,43]. However, in general, studies on cortisol in patients with PTSD have revealed inconsistent results, while some studies reported no differences in cortisol levels between individuals with PTSD and controls or between trauma-exposed subjects with and without PTSD, and even others found higher levels[55-58]. On the other hand, the comorbidity of major depressive disorder and PTSD has received scant attention[59], studies reporting a variety of results[60-62]. The meta-analysis conducted by Morriset al.[63], on 47 studies revealed that daily cortisol output was lower in trauma-exposed individuals with comorbid major depressive disorder/PTSD in comparison to controls. Our results suggest that cortisol is altered specifically in those with depressive symptoms alone following IPV. It is not clear whether this indicates a distinct psychopathological state, or whether altered cortisol in some way influences the psychological response to IPV. It is possible that the presence of the two sets of symptoms in our subjects have opposite actions on cortisol, though we had no women with PTSD alone. This cannot be verified from our data. Since the risk for depression as well as depression itself, is associated with higher morning cortisol, it is unclear whether our results reflect an epiphenomenon of depressed state, or an antecedent risk for it.

Both lower and higher levels of DHEA have been reported in depressed subjects in comparison to controls[64-68]. It is interesting, in view of the finding that altered cortisol was restricted to the IPV-depressive group, that this was also the group in which DHEA was altered in comparison to controls. The high levels found in women of the IPV-depressive group in our study may have some protective effects against putative deleterious actions of cortisol[69]. However, as this is a cross-sectional study, it was not possible to assess whetherhigh levels of DHEA predicted a reduced incidence of depressive symptoms. Since altered cortisol and DHEA was limited to the IPV-depressive group, their C/DHEA ratio was also altered, as would be expected. Elevated C/DHEA ratios have reported as a state marker of depressive illness[64,70,71].

The present results indicate that women exposed to IPV show differences in the vulnerability and resilience to the development of psychopathology, somatic symptoms as well to the alterations in the endocrine system[71], and the two may be related. What makes some women more vulnerable to develop specific IPV-related health deterioration and others resilient is not well understood. Thus, discovering those variables that may contribute to the different vulnerability and resilience to develop health deterioration is important for advancing diagnostic screening, prevention and treatment[21,24,72,73].

A limitation of this study consists on the method used for the recruitment of the sample. Women victims of IPV were recruited from the Centers for Helping Women, while the recruitment from other settings such as Primary health care could gather a wider sample of victims.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Conselleria of Social Welfare of Valencia and the 24-h Centers for Helping Women of the Valencia Community of Spain for their assistance in contacting women victims of partner violence.

Funding for this study was provided by The Institute of the Woman, Ministry of Work and Social Affairs (ref: 53/98), FEDER and the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica; ref: BSO2001-3134, Spain), and the Conselleria D’Educació (PROMETEO 2011/048). The sponsors had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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ment heading

10.1016/S2221-6189(14)60066-4

*Corresponding author: Professor Manuela Martinez, Department of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Valencia, Avda Blasco Ibañez, 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain.

Tel: 34-963864633

Fax: 34-963864668

E-mail: Manuela.Martinez@uv.es