Traumatic childhood damages the heart over many years

Childhood trauma with fatal consequences for the heart

Traumatic childhood experiences can have a significant impact on the development of those affected. Serious mental health problems later in life are among the known consequences. Now scientists have found that heart health is also badly affected by childhood trauma.

"People who experience traumatic experiences as a child or teenager appear to be more susceptible to cardiovascular disease," says the Association of Paediatricians from the American Heart Association (AHA) study findings. The researchers had already published their study about two months ago in the journal "Circulation". Bullying, abuse, experiences of violence and other traumatic experiences in childhood therefore harm heart health massively.

Effects of childhood trauma investigated

The AHA scientists reviewed the results of previous studies on the potential effects of childhood trauma on cardiometabolic health, including obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes. They found that children and adolescents who experienced traumatic experiences such as abuse, bullying and neglect, or witnessed violence, are more likely to develop heart and blood vessel diseases in adulthood. Patients suffer more frequently from complaints such as coronary heart disease (CHD), heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Protect children from traumatic experiences

In a press release on the study results, Prof. Shakira Suglia from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, stresses that the real tragedy is first and foremost that children are exposed to these traumatic experiences. "We talk about children and adolescents who have been physically and sexually abused and have experienced violence," Prof. Suglia continues. Unfortunately, according to the expert, the negative consequences of experiencing these events do not end when the experience ends, but last many years after the exposure. "Ideally, we want to prevent these things from happening at all and avoid the health consequences of those experiences," says Suglia.

What events can traumatize children??

According to the researchers, the possible traumatic experiences in childhood include all threats to physical safety as well as threats to the family and social structures. These are for example:

• emotional, physical or sexual abuse,
• neglect,
• Bullying by peers,
• domestic violence,
• parental divorces, separations or death of parents,
• Substance abuse in the family,
• Living in a neighborhood with high crime rates,
• homelessness,
• discrimination,
• poverty,
• Loss of a relative or another loved one.

Altered reactions to stress

Although the study did not investigate the cause-and-effect relationship, scientists believe that traumatic childhood experiences can have a significant impact on the development of cardiovascular disease. This may be due to unhealthy reactions to stress such as smoking or overeating. "Childhood recurrence and chronic stress are known to increase the risk of depression, anxiety, and mood disorders in children and adolescents, which in turn leads to unhealthy behaviors that often lead to cardiovascular and metabolic disorders"; explain the scientists.

New approaches to prevention

But not all children who have had traumatic experiences develop diseases of the heart and blood vessels. "This points to the existence of a number of biological, environmental, cultural and social factors that can help reduce risk and prevent the development of disease," the researchers emphasize. It may also be possible to derive new prevention approaches on the basis of this finding, the researchers concluded. (Fp)