Childhood Abuse Raises Heart Disease Risk

A childhood involving abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction increases the risk of heart disease in adulthood, according to a report in the online issue of the journal Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The link between these adverse childhood experiences and heart disease seems to be mediated more by psychological factors than traditional risk factors, lead author Dr. Maxia Dong, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and colleagues note. The findings are based on an analysis of survey data from 17,337 adult health plan members collected between 1995 and 1997. Two weeks after their medical history was recorded, the subjects were sent a questionnaire regarding adverse childhood experiences and health-related behaviors from adolescence through adulthood. Of the 10 types of adverse childhood experiences investigated, 9 were found to increase the risk of heart disease, the researchers report. The increased risks ranged from 1.7-fold for emotional abuse and crime within the household to 1.3-fold for emotional neglect and substance abuse within the household. Parental marital discord was the only adverse childhood experience not tied to an elevated risk of heart disease. As the number of adverse childhood experiences increased, so did the risk of heart disease. For example, the presence of just one adverse childhood experience had a relatively mild effect on risk, whereas having seven or more nearly quadrupled the risk compared with having none. In general, psychological factors were stronger mediators of risk than were traditional risk factors. With the exception of obesity, most traditional factors did not double the risk of heart disease. Heart disease cannot be looked at just in terms of risk factors in middle life, Dong told Reuters Health. To assess the risk, “you really need to go back to childhood. Adverse childhood experiences definitely affect future health.” (SOURCE: Circulation: Reuters Health News: Anthony J. Brown, MD: September 2004.)