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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2018 Jun 3;92:226–242. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.06.002

Table 1.

Associations between early life stress and health problems in adulthood

Citation Cited association Type of study Population Sample size Key metrics
Anda et al. (2008) Association between childhood adversity and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Quasi-prospective Adults 15,472 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE; retrospective at baseline), COPD self-report, COPD incidence at follow-up, medication use at follow-up
Brown et al. (2010) Association between childhood adversity lung cancer Quasi-prospective Adults 17,337 ACE (retrospective at baseline), hospital discharge at follow-up, mortality records at follow-up, adult smoking as mediator
Dong et al. (2004) Association between childhood adversity and ischemic heart disease (IHD) Retrospective Adults 17,337 ACE, self-report of IHD, IHD risk factors (e.g., physical activity) as mediators
Dube et al. (2001) Association between childhood adversity and suicide attempt Retrospective Adults 17,337 ACE, self-report suicide attempt, illicit drug use, depression, and alcoholism as mediators
Dube et al. (2009) Association between childhood adversity and autoimmune diseases (AD) Retrospective Adults 15,357 ACE, hospitalization for 21 types of AD after baseline measurement of ACE, AD immunopathology grouping
Felitti et al. (1998) Association between childhood adversity, health risk behaviors, obesity, and depression Retrospective Adults 9,508 ACE, health risk behaviors and disease from self-report and health screening
Miller and Chen (2010) Association between early life harsh family climate and pro-inflammatory phenotype in adolescence Prospective Female adolescents 135 Harsh family climate, cytokine response to in-vitro bacterial challenge, sensitivity of glucocorticoid receptor
Montez and Hayward (2014) Association between childhood adversity and active life expectancy Retrospective Adults 30,671 Childhood health and SES, mortality, activities of daily living (ADL), educational attainment as mediator
Norman et al. (2012) Association between childhood adversity and physical and mental health problems Meta-analysis Mixed >500,000 Physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, neglect, depressive disorder, anxiety, alcohol abuse
Sripada et al. (2014) Association between childhood poverty and stress reactivity in adulthood Case-control Adults 52 Childhood poverty, Trier Social Stress Test, salivary cortisol
Hughes et al. (2017) Association between childhood adversity an poor health in adulthood Meta-analysis Mixed 253,719 ACE, cancer, heart disease, mental illness, drug use, and interpersonal and self-directed violence
Varese et al. (2012) Association between childhood adversity and psychosis in adulthood Meta-analysis Mixed 81,253 Childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional/psychological abuse, neglect, parental death, bullying, psychotic disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder
Huang et al. (2015) Association between childhood adversity and type 2 diabetes in adulthood Meta-analysis Mixed 87,251 ACE, type 2 diabetes
Infurna et al. (2016) Association between childhood abuse and neglect and depression Meta-analysis Adults 4,372 Childhood experience of care and abuse (CECA), clinically assessed depression
Lindert et al. (2014) Association between childhood sexual and physical abuse and depression Meta-analysis Mixed 115,579 Sexual and physical abuse prior to 16 years of age, depression and anxiety after 16 years of age
Palmier-Claus et al. (2018) Association between childhood adversity and bipolar affective disorder Meta-analysis Mixed >1,000,000 Child abuse, neglect, bullying, loss of parent, trauma, bipolar disorder
Zatti et al. (2017) Association between childhood trauma and suicide attempt Meta-analysis Children → Adults 6,612 Childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, neglect, and suicide attempt