Effects of childhood psychological trauma on rheumatic diseases

The etiology of rheumatic diseases is unclear, but it is thought that environmental factors added to immunogenetic mechanisms in chronic inflammatory diseases play a role. Many inflammatory disorders, autoimmune diseases, and painful conditions have been shown to be associated with the psychological trauma of childhood. The aim of the present study was to investigate childhood psychological trauma that is considered to be one of the environmental factors that initiate inflammation on patients with rheumatic diseases.

In our study, a total of 440 patients (220 patients who have rheumatic diseases as the case group and 220 patients who have no rheumatic disease as the control group) were examined. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-28 (CTQ-28) was administered and was completed by the patients. This was a cross-sectional study design.

No statistically significant differences were found between the case and control groups with respect to age, gender, marital status, and educational level. The CTQ-28 scale was found to be significantly higher in patients with rheumatic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and connective tissue disease) in our study.

We think that childhood psychiatric traumas are effective in the etiopathogenesis of rheumatic diseases. To make this relationship more understandable, multidisciplinary research and long-term follow-up studies are needed to examine neuroendocrine, genetic, and epidemiological factors.