Takeaway
- Childhood maltreatment is associated with an increased risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and all-cause mortality.
Why this matters
- Findings highlight the need for public health approaches to both encourage the prevention of childhood maltreatment and for reduction of risk factors responsible for cardiometabolic disease.
Study design
- This population-based, retrospective open cohort study included 80,657 adult patients with a history of childhood maltreatment or maltreatment-related concerns (exposed group) and 161,314 matched unexposed patients using data from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database, UK.
- Funding: None.
Key results
- The incidence rate (IR) of new cardiovascular disease events was higher in the exposed vs the unexposed group (IR, 8.3 vs. 4.6 per 10000 person-years), this translated to an increased adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) of 1.71 (95% CI, 1.42-2.06).
- This risk persisted significantly for ischaemic heart disease (aIRR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.16-2.13; P=.003) and stroke/transient ischaemic attack (aIRR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.66-2.81; P<.001).
- The exposed group vs. the unexposed group had an increased risk of:
- hypertension (aIRR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.26-1.59);
- type 2 diabetes mellitus (aIRR, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.86-2.45); and
- all-cause mortality (aIRR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.52-2.02; P<.001 for all).
Limitations
- Retrospective design.
- Selection bias.
Chandan JS, Okoth K, Gokhale KM, Bandyopadhyay S, Taylor J, Nirantharakumar K. Increased Cardiometabolic and Mortality Risk Following Childhood Maltreatment in the United Kingdom. J Am Heart Assoc. 2020;9(10):e015855. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.119.015855. PMID: 32410481 View abstract
This clinical summary first appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
