Childhood Maltreatment Causes Inflammation And Depression In Adulthood

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Main Category: Depression
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Psychology / Psychiatry;  Immune System / Vaccines
Article Date: 14 Apr 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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A history of abuse of neglect in childhood could be associated with depression and inflammation when reaching adulthood. According to a report in the April 2008 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA/Archives journal, not only is this association possible but this could also increase cardiovascular risk.

Major depression can affect many parts of the body, according to the authors: "Major depression is a multisystemic disorder that affects both brain and bodily functions." Often, depression coincides with cardiovascular disease, and chronic inflammation, in which the immune system is over-activated, has been linked to both. They explain: "However, not all individuals with depression have elevated levels of inflammation. Those who do could be at highest risk for cardiovascular disease."

To test the validity of this statement, Andrea Danese, M.D., M.Sc., of King's College London, and colleagues examined 1,000 New Zealand residents who were born between 1972 and 1973. Analyses were performed every two years between the ages of 3 and 15, and afterwards at 18, 21, 26, and 32 years. Maltreatment in childhood included rejection by the child's mother, harsh discipline, physical or sexual abuse, or disruptive changes in the caregivers. In the childhood years, these were reported by parents, indicated by objective examinations, and the reports of the participants themselves as they reached adulthood. When the participants reached age 32, a physical examination was performed with the clinical interview to diagnose depression.

Subjects who presently had depression and also displayed a history of childhood maltreatment were likely to have high inflammation levels at age 32 -- this was assessed by the presence of C-reactive protein in the blood, a high sensitivity protein related to inflammation. Patients with depression but who had not been maltreated did not have this increased risk. The authors explain that this did not seem to be due to other factors: "The elevated inflammation levels in individuals who were both depressed and maltreated were not explained by correlated risk factors such as depression recurrence, low socioeconomic status in childhood or adulthood, poor health or smoking."

They conclude with hopes that this will help identify risk factors for depressed individuals. "Information about experiences of childhood maltreatment may help to identify depressed individuals with elevated inflammation levels and, thus, greater risk of cardiovascular disease." They continue, "In turn, the early recognition of the health risk associated with maltreatment history might help to address pressing needs for the care of depressed individuals such as the reduction of the effect of depression on comorbid [co-occurring] medical illness."

Elevated Inflammation Levels in Depressed Adults With a History of Childhood Maltreatment
Andrea Danese, MD, MSc; Terrie E. Moffitt, PhD; Carmine M. Pariante, MD, MRCPsych, PhD; Antony Ambler, MSc; Richie Poulton, PhD; Avshalom Caspi, PhD
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;65[4]:409-416.
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Written by Anna Sophia McKenney
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