Researchers are looking across the entire human genome to see if early life stress causes persistent changes in gene expression that increase the lifelong risk of cardiovascular disease.
"We know this stress is bad, and we can link this stress to mental and physical problems when these young people get older. The question is, how does this happen," said Dr. Shaoyong Su, genetic epidemiologist at the Georgia Prevention Institute at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University.
Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, such as sexual abuse, neglect and domestic violence, are known to contribute to mental health problems as well as cardiovascular troubles such as hypertension and heart disease. Su was corresponding author of a study earlier this year in the journal Circulation showing that young adults who experience multiple ACEs as children have a systolic blood pressure that is 10 points higher than their peers.
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