Unhappy family or trauma in youth leads to poor health in old age: Research

Adverse childhood experiences particularly those involving violence have repercussions later in life that include both physical and mental impairmentsItrsquos known that a difficult childhood can lead to a host of health issues as a young or midlife adult but now for the first time researchers at UC San Franciso have linked adverse experiences early in life to lifelong health consequencesThey found that older US adults with a history of stressful or traumatic experiences as children were more likely to experience both physical and cognitive impairments in their senior years Stressful childhood experiences could include exposure to physical violence or abuse severe illness family financial stress or being separated from parentsThe study which appears Aug 2 2023 in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that those who experienced violence in childhood were 4037 more likely to have mobility impairment and 8037 more likely to have difficulty with daily activities Those who came from unhappy families were 4037 more likely to have at last mild cognitive impairmentldquoWe looked at selfreported disability as well as objectively measured physical and cognitive impairment and learned that early life stressful experiences can have ramifications all the way into older agerdquo said senior author Alison J Huang MD a UCSF professor of medicine and director of research in General Internal Medicine at UCSF HealthldquoThis can mean a higher likelihood of difficulty walking or carrying out activities of daily living or problems with memory when people are in their 60s 70s 80s or olderrdquo she saidRoot cause for a lifetime of ailmentsAlmost 60 percent of adults in the US have experienced one or more types of adverse childhood experiences ACEs that can undermine a childrsquos sense of safety or stability according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC This is associated with chronic physical and mental health issues including cardiovascular disease diabetes autoimmune disease and depression But therersquos little research documenting health implications of ACEs across the full lifespan even though older adults bear the greatest burden of most health conditionsIn 2021 California became the first state to mandate commercial insurance coverage for screening for early stressful or traumatic experiences in both children and adults Eight other states are considering or implementing similar legislation This type of screening however remains controversial due to an unclear impact on longterm health and a possible burden on the health care system Drawing upon data from the National Social Life Health and Aging Project a national cohort of older US adults the new study examined nearly 3400 participants slightly more than half female who were 50 to 97 years old and lived in community settings Participants were asked about ACEs and underwent tests of balance and walking as well as cognition and memory Their difficulty with performing the activities of daily living was also assessedClose to half ndash 4437 ndash reported a history of at least one ACE between age 6 and 16 These included experiencing violence 1437 witnessing violence 1637 financial stress 1337 separation from a parent 1637 and poor health 637 in childhood One in five reported more than one adverse childhood experienceldquoGiven how common ACEs were among our participants it shows that stressful early life experiences may be markers of risk of functional impairment and disability later in liferdquo said first author and UCSF medical student Victoria M Lee ldquoThis raises implications for geriatric care early recognition of childhood trauma may be useful in identifying adults who might benefit from screening or prevention strategies for agingassociated functional declinerdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever