Child victims of abuse and violence would age faster

THE ESSENTIAL

• The participants were on average 41 years old. 55% of them were women.
• Childhood abuse can lead to earlier onset of disease, disability and early death.

Child abuse can accelerate aging. This was revealed by researchers from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in the United States. To reach this conclusion, they carried out a study, the results of which were published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology. As part of the work, the scientists investigated whether evidence of childhood abuse might be seen in biomarkers of aging.

Child abuse: 607 people were recruited

To carry out their research, the team recruited 357 people who had been abused and had suffered physical or sexual abuse before or at the age of 11. “The cases were found in juvenile and adult court records from the years 1967 through 1971 in a large geographic area of ​​the Midwest,” she clarified. The authors also used 250 adults who had the same age, sex and socio-economic status as the victims of abuse and violence when they were children. Two blood tests were used to assess the biological aging of abused volunteers and control subjects.

Childhood trauma can shorten life expectancy

According to the results, participants who experienced childhood abuse are more likely to have biological markers indicating that they are biologically older. “The magnitude of the effect of abuse was greater for women compared to men,” can we read in the study.

According to the researchers, these results are important enough to consider the need for lifelong follow-up for people who suffered childhood abuse. If preventive care were provided to preserve physical and mental health many years following childhood, it would increase the life expectancy of victims.