Giving Compass' Take:

• The JAMA Network has released a study of women ages 40-60 that reveals how a history of enduring sexual harassment and sexual assault negatively impacts mental and physical health.

• The #MeToo movement has raised awareness for these issues, but having concrete data to show the extent of damage caused by sexual violations drives the point home: We need to take action.

• Here's how social justice organizations can participate in the effort to eradicate sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment and sexual assault are common experiences among women. In the United States, an estimated 40% to 75% of women have experienced workplace sexual harassment, and over 1 in 3 women (36%) have experienced sexual assault. With recent popular movements (eg, Me Too, Time’s Up), there is rising public awareness of sexual harassment and assault and their implications for women’s health.

Both sexual harassment and sexual assault have been linked to poorer self-reported physical and mental health outcomes. While these studies suggest that harassment and assault are associated with adverse outcomes broadly, these findings are limited by several issues. Survey studies, particularly of sexual harassment, largely assess physical health via self-report. These reports can be biased by mood, memory, and reporting of physical symptoms and by awareness of health conditions, which can vary by socioeconomic status, health care access, and health literacy ...

Among a well-characterized sample of 304 midlife women, we investigated the association of a history of sexual harassment and sexual assault with blood pressure (BP), depressed mood, anxiety, and sleep, important health issues affecting midlife women. Elevated BP is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death in women, and an important indicator of risk among midlife women who typically develop clinical CVD later in life. Depression and anxiety show a doubling in rates in women relative to men,13 and up to half of midlife women report problems with sleep. We hypothesized that sexual harassment and assault would be associated with higher BP, more depressed mood and anxiety, and poorer sleep after accounting for key confounders.

Read the full article about the effects of sexual harassment and assault on women's health by Rebecca C. Thurston, PhD, Yuefang Chang, PhD, and Karen A. Matthews, PhD. at The JAMA Network.