• Johanna Klinger-König, Angelika Erhardt, Fabian Streit, Maja P Völker, Matthias B Schulze, Thomas Keil, Julia Fricke, Stefanie Castell, Carolina J Klett-Tammen, Tobias Pischon, André Karch, Henning Teismann, Karin B Michels, K Halina Greiser, Heiko Becher, Stefan Karrasch, Wolfgang Ahrens, Claudia Meinke-Franze, Sabine Schipf, Rafael Mikolajczyk, Amand Führer, Berit Brandes, Börge Schmidt, Carina Emmel, Michael Leitzmann, Julian Konzok, Anette Peters, Nadia Obi, Hermann Brenner, Bernd Holleczek, Ilais Moreno Velásquez, Jürgen Deckert, Bernhard T Baune, Marcella Rietschel, Klaus Berger, and Hans J Grabe.
• Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany; Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Münster, Münster, Germany; German Center for Neuro degenerative Diseases (DZNE), Site Rostock/Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany; Additional authors have contributed to this publication. They are listed under "cite this as" and at the end of this article together with their affiliations.
• Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2024 Jan 12; 121 (1): 181-8.

BackgroundChildhood trauma is associated with somatic and mental illness in adulthood. The strength of the association varies as a function of age, sex, and type of trauma. Pertinent studies to date have mainly focused on individual diseases. In this study, we investigate the association between childhood trauma and a multiplicity of somatic and mental illnesses in adulthood.MethodsData from 156 807 NAKO Health Study participants were analyzed by means of logistic regressions, with adjustment for age, sex, years of education, and study site. The Childhood Trauma Screener differentiated between no/minor (n = 115 891) and moderate/severe childhood trauma (n = 40 916). The outcome variables were medical diagnoses of five somatic and two mental health conditions as stated in the clinical history.ResultsPersons with childhood trauma were more likely to bear a diagnosis of all of the studied conditions: cancer (odds ratio [OR] = 1.10; 95% confidence interval: [1.05; 1.15]), myocardial infarction (OR = 1.13 [1.03; 1.24]), diabetes (OR = 1.16, [1.10; 1.23]), stroke (OR = 1.35 [1.23; 1.48]), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR = 1.45 [1.38; 1.52]), depression (OR = 2.36 [2.29; 2.43]), and anxiety disorders (OR = 2.08 [2.00; 2.17]). All of these associations were stronger in younger persons, regardless of the nature of childhood trauma. Differences between the sexes were observed only for some of these associations.ConclusionChildhood trauma was associated with a higher probability of developing mental as well as somatic illness in adulthood. As childhood trauma is an element of individual history that the victim has little to no control over, and because the illnesses that can arise in adulthood in association with it are a heavy burden on the affected persons and on society, there is a need for research on these associations and for the development of preventive measures.

16 keywords...

hide…