• Verónica Vitriol, Alfredo Cancino, Marcelo Leiva-Bianchi, Carlos Serrano, Soledad Ballesteros, Soledad Potthoff, Cristián Cáceres, Marcela Ormazábal, and Andrea Asenjo.
• Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Talca, Chile.
• Rev Med Chil. 2017 Sep 1; 145 (9): 1145-1153.

BackgroundTraumatic experiences during childhood may influence the development of mental disorders during adulthood.AimTo determine clinical and psychosocial variables that are associated with a higher frequency of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) in patients who consult for depression in Primary Health Care clinics in Chile.Material And MethodsA socio-demographic interview, the mini international neuropsychiatric interview (MINI), a screening for ACE, a questionnaire for partner violence (PV), the Life Experiences Survey (LES) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRDS) were applied to 394 patients with major depression (87% women).ResultsEighty two percent of patients had experienced at least one ACE and 43% of them reported three or more. Positive correlations were observed between the number of ACE and severity of depressive symptoms (r = 0.19; p < 0.01), psychiatric comorbidities (r = 0.23; p < 0.01), partner violence events (r = 0.31; p < 0.01), vital stressful events (r = 0.12; p < 0.01), number of depressive episodes (r = 0.16; p < 0.01), duration of the longer depressive episode (r = 0.12; p < 0.05) and suicidal tendency according to HDRS (r = 0.16; p < 0.01). An inverse correlation was observed between frequency of ACE and age at the first depressive episode (r = -0.12; p < 0.05).ConclusionsThese data are consistent with the hypothesis that early trauma is associated with more severe and complex depressive episodes during adulthood.

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