[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site — abuseresearch.info — that focuses on the health effects of abuse, and includes research articles on ACEs. Every month, she posts the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs. Thank you, Harise!! -- Jane Stevens]
Hashemi SM, Yousefichaijan P, Salehi B, et. al.
Comparison of child abuse history in patients with and without functional abdominal pain: a case-control study. BMC Psychiatry. 2020 May 24;20(1):258. PMID: 32448192
Comparing 100 Iranian children seen with a diagnosis of functional abdominal pain (FAP - abdominal pain without an identifiable medical cause) to those without FAP, those with FAP were 5.13 times more likely to have experienced emotional abuse, 4.27 times more for neglect, and 8.2 times more for general maltreatment, however physical abuse was not found to be a significant single factor.
Evans A, Hardcastle K, Bandyopadhyay A, et. al.
Adverse childhood experiences during childhood and academic attainment at age 7 and 11 years: an electronic birth cohort study. Public Health. 2020 Dec;189:37-47. PMID: 33147524
From a large study of Welsh children at age 7 and follow-up at age 11, and controlling for multiple variables, at both ages there was an increased risk of not attaining expected school level due to adult household members with a common mental disorder, alcohol problem, or death; childhood maltreatment; and low family income. “Children with multiple adversities had substantially increased odds of not attaining the expected level at each educational assessment.”
Vallati M, Cunningham S, Mazurka R, et. al.
Childhood maltreatment and the clinical characteristics of major depressive disorder in adolescence and adulthood. J Abnorm Psychol. 2020 Jul;129(5):469-479. PMID: 32237880
Of 575 adolescents and adults in a current episode of unipolar depressive disorder, higher levels of emotional and/or sexual maltreatment were significantly associated with greater depression severity, number of previous episodes, and risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); and were significantly more strongly associated with these characteristics than was physical maltreatment. Further, “emotional maltreatment perpetrated by mothers was significantly associated with depression severity and history, whereas emotional maltreatment perpetrated by fathers was significantly associated with a greater risk of PTSD.”
Epperson CN, Duffy KA, Johnson RL, et. al.
Enduring impact of childhood adversity on lower urinary tract symptoms in adult women. Neurourol Urodyn. 2020 Jun;39(5):1472-1481. PMID: 32368829
For 151 women with average age of 64.7 years seen in a urology clinic, the total number of ACEs predicted the total number and frequency of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), even after controlling for a large range of variables. “Childhood adversity has an enduring impact on risk for LUTS in adulthood.”
Hall T, Rooks R, Kaufman C.
Intersections of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Race and Ethnicity and Asthma Outcomes: Findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Nov 7;17(21):E8236. PMID: 33171864
From a large national database, “The likelihood of asthma is particularly high for women reporting ACEs as well as individuals identifying as AIAN, Black/African American, multiracial, or White.”
Shields M, Tonmyr L, Hovdestad WE, et. al.
Exposure to family violence from childhood to adulthood. BMC Public Health. 2020 Nov 9;20(1):1673. PMID: 33167904
From a large Canadian survey of adults, a history of childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse or exposure to IPV in the home were all associated with a 2 times increased risk of adult IPV for both men and women. There was a dose-response relationship between severity and frequency of types of childhood maltreatment and adult IPV for women, but for men this association only applied to physical abuse.
Butler N, Quigg Z, Bellis MA.
Cycles of violence in England and Wales: the contribution of childhood abuse to risk of violence revictimisation in adulthood. BMC Med. 2020 Nov 16;18(1):325. PMID: 33190642
From a large representative survey of individuals aged 16 to 59 years, after controlling for multiple variables, childhood psychological and physical abuse were significantly associated with adult IPV, childhood psychological and sexual abuse with adult sexual violence, and childhood psychological abuse with adult physical assault. “Breaking the cycle of violence should be a public health priority.”
Grigsby TJ, Rogers CJ, Albers LD, et. al.
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health Indicators in a Young Adult, College Student Sample: Differences by Gender. Int J Behav Med. 2020 Dec;27(6):660-667. PMID: 32643038
From a large study of ACEs in college students from California, Minnesota and Texas between 2017 and 2018, 51.7% reported at least one ACE. “We observed graded relationships between levels of ACE exposure and physical, mental, and behavioral health indicators including cigarette use, e-cigarette use, drinking and driving, obesity, lifetime depression, suicide ideation and attempt, non-suicidal self-injury, and lack of restful sleep. ACE-exposed females reported worse mental health status than ACE-exposed males, while males reported more substance use than females.”
Beilharz JE, Paterson M, Fatt S, et. al.
The impact of childhood trauma on psychosocial functioning and physical health in a non-clinical community sample of young adults. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2020 Feb;54(2):185-194. PMID: 31631683
Healthy Australian young adults who have experienced childhood trauma “are vulnerable to negative health outcomes, including mental and physical health, stress, well-being, sleep quality, and physical symptoms.” This study also showed increased heart rate response to everyday stressors, and increased resting heart rate during sleep for those with a history of childhood physical abuse.
Mensinger JL, Granche JL, Cox SA, Henretty JR.
Sexual and gender minority individuals report higher rates of abuse and more severe eating disorder symptoms than cisgender heterosexual individuals at admission to eating disorder treatment. Int J Eat Disord. 2020 Apr;53(4):541-554. PMID: 32167198
Of 2,818 individuals treated at a large, US eating disorder center, 17% identified as sexual/gender minorities (SGM). SGM individuals were twice as likely to have experienced sexual abuse, other trauma, and bullying. They had more severe symptoms at admission, which coincided with a greater delay between eating disorder onset and treatment initiation, possibly due to decreased recognition by healthcare providers.
Sienkiewicz ME, Amalathas A, Iverson KM, et. al.
Examining the Association between Trauma Exposure and Work-Related Outcomes in Women Veterans. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jun 25;17(12):4585. PMID: 32630579
From surveys of 369 female veterans, participants reported high rates of trauma exposure — “childhood sexual assault (25.3%), childhood physical assault (17.2%), adult sexual assault (36.4%), adult physical assault (20.2%), military-related trauma (38.9%), and any military sexual trauma (54.5%).” 47.5% were out of the workforce, which was associated with PTSD and depression symptoms rather than specific types of trauma.
Temkin D, Harper K, Stratford B, et. al.
Moving Policy Toward a Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Approach to Support Children Who Have Experienced Trauma. J Sch Health. 2020 Dec;90(12):940-947. PMID: 33184886
“State policymakers must thus consider trauma not as a stand alone issue, but as one that should be integrated throughout policies governing how schools address students’ physical, social, and emotional needs. Simply requiring teacher training, especially when available trainings have only limited evidence, or mandating screening of students for ACEs or adversity, which carries several limitations and risks, cannot create the supportive environments students experiencing trauma need to thrive.”
Not Specifically mentioning ACEs but of interest
Churchwell K, Elkind MSV, Benjamin RM, et. Al.
Call to Action: Structural Racism as a Fundamental Driver of Health Disparities: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2020 Dec 15;142(24):e454-e468. PMID: 33170755
“The American Heart Association has previously published statements addressing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk and disparities among racial and ethnic groups in the United States, but these statements have not adequately recognized structural racism as a fundamental cause of poor health and disparities in cardiovascular disease. This presidential advisory reviews the historical context, current state, and potential solutions to address structural racism in our country.”
Danese A, Widom CS.
Objective and subjective experiences of child maltreatment and their relationships with psychopathology. Nat Hum Behav. 2020 Aug;4(8):811-818. PMID: 32424258
Authors studied 1,196 children with both objective, court-documented evidence of maltreatment and subjective reports of their childhood maltreatment histories made once they reached adulthood, along with extensive psychiatric assessment. They found that, even for severe cases of childhood maltreatment identified through court records, adult mental health problems were minimal in the absence of impact of reported personal subjective experiences of childhood abuse. In contrast, risk of psychopathology linked to subjective reports of childhood maltreatment was high, whether or not the reports were consistent with objective measures. “These findings have important implications for how we study the mechanisms through which child maltreatment affects mental health and how we prevent or treat maltreatment-related psychopathology.”
Cui Z, Oshri A, Liu S, Smith EP, Kogan SM.
Child Maltreatment and Resilience: The Promotive and Protective Role of Future Orientation. J Youth Adolesc. 2020 Oct;49(10):2075-2089. PMID: 32236791
Comparing a group of maltreated vs. non-maltreated youth, future orientation [the extent to which an individual thinks about the future, anticipates future consequences, and plans ahead before acting] significantly predicted higher levels of social competence and attenuated the adverse effects of maltreatment on youth delinquency and substance use.” The findings highlight the role of future orientation in the development of resilience prevention and intervention programs.
Shields GS, Spahr CM, Slavich GM.
Psychosocial Interventions and Immune System Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020 Oct 1;77(10):1031-1043. PMID: 32492090
From a research review on the effects of mental health treatment on immune function, “Recent estimates suggest that more than 50% of all deaths worldwide are currently attributable to inflammation-related diseases.” [And various forms of abuse are linked to increased inflammation.] “Overall, being randomly assigned to a psychosocial intervention condition vs a control condition was associated with a 14.7% improvement in beneficial immune system function and an 18.0% decrease in harmful immune system function over time. These associations persisted for at least 6 months following treatment and were robust across age, sex, and intervention duration. These associations were most reliable for CBT [cognitive behavioral therapy] and multiple or combined interventions.”
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