Childhood abuse histories predict steeper inflammatory trajectories across time

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recently named childhood abuse histories as a public health risk. Clear links between abuse histories and inflammation exist. However, it remains unknown how abuse histories impact inflammatory trajectories throughout adulthood. Accordingly, this study assessed inflammatory trajectories across three visits among healthy adults with and without abuse histories.

In this secondary analysis of data from a longitudinal observational study of cancer survivors and noncancer controls, 157 noncancer controls (M_age = 55.8, range = 32-83) completed the Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (CTQ), providing data on physical, emotional, and sexual abuse prior to age 18. Cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin 1-beta (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were collected at the baseline visit and two follow-up visits approximately one (M months = 11.52, SD = 4.10) and two years (M months = 23.79, SD = 4.40) later. To represent inflammatory changes, cytokine data at each visit were combined into a composite z-score. Covariates in all analyses included age, biological sex, race, income, body mass index, menopause status, psychological diagnosis history, and medical comorbidities.

Compared to their nonabused peers, those who had experienced any type of abuse in childhood demonstrated steeper rises in inflammation across time. Inflammation rose more steeply for individuals with physical and emotional abuse histories compared to those without such histories.

Overall, these data suggest that childhood abuse histories may quicken age-related increases in inflammation, contributing to accelerated aging, morbidity, and early mortality. These findings provide mechanistic insight into why child abuse is a public health risk.