Adverse childhood experiences are associated with increased risk of hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy: A national retrospective cohort study of women in England

From the early scars to the vicissitudes of old age: A bibliometric analysis revealing childhood adversity and aging

BACKGROUND

Adversity suffered in childhood may profoundly affect aging over the subsequent life cycle. The field of childhood adversity and aging has amassed a certain number of publications, but there are no bibliometric studies in this field.

METHODS

Publications in 10 years on childhood adversity and aging were searched in the Web of Science Core Collection. Bibliometric tools were used to analyze and visualize these publications by country, institution, journal, author, keyword, research area, and co-citation.

RESULTS

Four hundred thirty-five publications were retrieved from 2014 to September 21, 2023, with a 4.9% annual growth rate. The United States (251), University of California, San Francisco (59), Elissa S. Epel (11), and Psychoneuroendocrinology (29) were the countries, institutions, authors, and journals contributing the highest number of publications in this field, respectively. "Early-life stress" (87), "depression" (82), "childhood trauma" (69), and "aging" (60) were the keywords that appeared more frequently.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first bibliometric study on childhood adversity and aging. The United States dominates the field regarding publication numbers, research institutions, and researchers. Publications in this field are interdisciplinary, covering several critical subject areas and having far-reaching impacts, with gerontology, neurosciences, psychology, and psychiatry at the core.

Adverse childhood experiences and trajectories of multimorbidity in individuals aged over 50: Evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing

BACKGROUND

Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are important for chronic diseases yet their association with multimorbidity remains understudied. Few studies consider the complexity of multimorbidity or observe multimorbidity development over time.

OBJECTIVE

We investigated whether ACE were associated with multimorbidity at baseline and over a 12-year follow-up period.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

5326 participants aged over 50 were obtained from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).

METHODS

An ACE summary score was derived using eight ACE items measuring abuse, social care, and household dysfunction. From repeated measurements of 29 chronic conditions over a 12-year period (2008-2019) we derived two multimorbidity measures: number of chronic diseases and number of chronic disease categories. We used multinomial logistic regression to assess associations between ACE and both measures. Mixed effects models were estimated to examine trajectories of multimorbidity by ACE over time.

RESULTS

Graded associations between ACE and multimorbidity were observed. Compared to those without ACE, participants with ≥3 ACE had three times the risk of having ≥3 chronic diseases (RRR 3.06, 95 % CI 1.85-5.05) and falling into ≥3 chronic disease categories (RRR 2·93 95 % CI 1·74-4·95). Graded associations persisted during 12-year follow-up, though differences in multimorbidity between those with ≥3 ACE and those without ACE remained constant (B 0.02, 95 % CI 0·01-0·03, and B -0·01, 95 % CI -0·02-0·00, number of chronic conditions and chronic condition categories respectively).

CONCLUSION

ACE are associated with multimorbidity risk and complexity, associations arising before the age of 50. Early intervention amongst those with ACE could attenuate this association.

Impact of adverse childhood experiences on life expectancy with depression in the U.K. population: The mitigating role of educational attainment

BACKGROUND

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with depression in later life.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to measure the impact of ACEs on life expectancy with depression (DLE) and to assess how educational attainment affected expectations.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

The study used data on 5597 participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006-2013).

METHODS

Depression was assessed through the eight-item short version of the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression. We used discrete-multistate life table models to estimate total life expectancy and life expectancy with depression.

RESULTS

Older adults with ACEs had longer DLE and a higher proportion of remaining life with depression compared with those without ACEs. For example, men aged 60 years with ACEs could expect to live 5.2 (95 % confidence interval (CI): 4.2, 6.2) years with depression compared with 2.8 (95 % CI: 2.3, 3.3) years for men without ACEs. Women aged 60 years who reported ACEs could expect to live 9.4 (95 % CI: 7.6, 11.1) years with depression compared with 6.0 (95 % CI: 5.1, 7.0) years for women without ACEs. With a high level of educational attainment, older adults from younger cohorts with ACEs lived fewer depression years and spent a higher proportion of their life being free of depression than adults with ACEs and had a low level of educational attainment.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicated that ACEs may increase years of life with depression among U.K. adults. Meanwhile, high educational attainment could mitigate the mental health burden associated with ACEs.

Association between early life adversity and allostatic load in girls with precocious puberty

CONTEXT

The mechanisms underlying the elevated long-term health risk in girls with precocious puberty remain unclear, but might result from physiological wear and tear associated with greater exposure to early life adversity.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to explore early life adversity in girls with precocious puberty and its association with allostatic load.

METHODS

Early life adversity and hair cortisol concentration were measured among 213 girls with precocious puberty (8.21 ± 1.07). Allostatic load score is constructed by using 13 physiological biomarkers representing four systems and hair cortisol concentration. Multivariate linear regression models have estimated the associations between cumulative early life adversity exposure with total and system-specific allostatic load scores. Associations between cumulative early life adversity and the risk of high allostatic load (3 + high-risk biomarkers) were tested using binary logistics regression.

RESULTS

More than two-thirds (67.6%) of girls with central precocious puberty reported two or more early life adversity exposure. Compared to those with no early life adversity exposure, girls who reported early life adversity score ≥ 2 had significantly higher total allostatic load score (β: 1.20-1.64, P < 0.001). Metabolic system was more sensitive to cumulative early life adversity exposure, each form of early life adversity exposure was associated with 0.48-unit increases in metabolic allostatic load score (95%CI: 0.06, 0.90, P = 0.026). Girls reported early life adversity score ≥ 3 were three times more likely to have a high allostatic load compared with those without early life adversity exposure in both unadjusted and adjusted models (OR_adjusted=3.83, 95%CI: 1.17, 12.55, P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Multisystem physiological dysregulation is observed in girls with central precocious puberty, which might result from cumulative wear-and-tear associated with early life adversity.