Adversity and inflammation among adolescents: a possible pathway to long-term health risk

It has been suggested that childhood adversity programs an inflammatory phenotype characterized by higher levels of systemic inflammation and increased health risk in later life. If this is the case, one might expect associations of early childhood adversity with elevated levels of circulating inflammatory molecules in adolescence. To date, evidence for this association is mixed. This issue of Psychosomatic Medicine includes two studies by Pietras and Goodman and Low et al. that extend the existing literature and provide initial evidence that coping styles and perceived social standing may buffer against the impact of adversity on inflammation among adolescents. The current commentary considers these interesting findings in the context of the existing literature and discusses a critical need for longitudinal studies examining whether individual risk and resilience factors moderate the long-term health effects of childhood adversity, possibly via early programming of inflammatory pathways.