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Childhood Abuse and Adult Health Risks

This study examined the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) like abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction, and health risks in adulthood. A survey of over 9,500 adults found that over half reported at least one ACE, and one-fourth reported two or more. Experiencing multiple ACEs was strongly associated with increased risks of substance abuse, depression, suicide attempts, smoking, obesity, and heart disease. Those with four or more ACEs had significantly higher risks of alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and more than 50 sexual partners. The findings demonstrate a graded relationship between ACEs and poor physical and mental health later in life.

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10 views6 pages

Childhood Abuse and Adult Health Risks

This study examined the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) like abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction, and health risks in adulthood. A survey of over 9,500 adults found that over half reported at least one ACE, and one-fourth reported two or more. Experiencing multiple ACEs was strongly associated with increased risks of substance abuse, depression, suicide attempts, smoking, obesity, and heart disease. Those with four or more ACEs had significantly higher risks of alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and more than 50 sexual partners. The findings demonstrate a graded relationship between ACEs and poor physical and mental health later in life.

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Siti New
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Abstract

Background: The relationship of health


risk behavior and disease in adulthood
to the breadth of exposure to childhood
emotional, physical, or sexual abuse,
and household dysfunction during
childhood has not previously been
described.
Methods: A questionnaire about adverse
childhood experiences was mailed to
13,494 adults who had completed a
standardized medical evaluation at a
large HMO; 9,508 (70.5%) responded.
Seven categories of adverse childhood
experiences were studied:
psychological, physical, or sexual
abuse; violence against mother; or living
with household members who
were substance abusers, mentally ill or
suicidal, or ever imprisoned. The
number of categories of these adverse
childhood experiences was then
compared to measures of adult risk
behavior, health status, and disease.
Logistic regression was used to adjust
for effects of demographic factors on the
association between the cumulative
number of categories of childhood
exposures (range: 0–7) and risk factors
for the leading causes of death in adult
life.
Results: More than half of respondents
reported at least one, and one-fourth
reported ≥2 categories of childhood
exposures. We found a graded
relationship between the number of
categories of childhood exposure and
each of the adult health risk behaviors
and diseases that were studied (P <
.001). Persons who had experienced
four or more categories of childhood
exposure, compared to those who had
experienced none, had 4- to 12-fold
increased health risks for
alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and
suicide attempt; a 2- to 4-fold increase in
smoking, poor self-rated health, ≥50
sexual intercourse partners, and
sexually transmitted disease; and a 1.4-
to 1.6-fold increase in physical inactivity
and severe obesity. The number of
categories of adverse childhood
exposures showed a graded relationship
to the presence of adult diseases
including ischemic heart disease,
cancer, chronic lung disease, skeletal
fractures, and liver disease. The seven
categories of adverse childhood
experiences were strongly interrelated
and persons with multiple categories of
childhood exposure were likely to have
multiple health risk factors later in life.
Conclusions: We found a strong graded
relationship between the breadth of
exposure to abuse or household
dysfunction during childhood and
multiple risk factors for several of the
leading causes of death in adults.

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Keywords
child abuse
sexual
domestic violence
spouse abuse
children of impaired parents
substance abuse
alcoholism
smoking
obesity
physical activity
depression
suicide
sexual behavior
sexually transmitted diseases
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
ischemic heart disease. \
{hd1}Introduction
Relationship of Childhood
Abuse and Household
Dysfunction to Many of the
Leading Causes of Death in
Adults: The Adverse
Childhood Experiences
(ACE) Study

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