United States: Childhood neglect, deprivation, and abuse lead to an increased risk of developing or chances of growing a chronic diseases later in life, a new study says.
“Stress is now established as a major factor in nine out of ten leading causes of death in the United States today,” said senior researcher Dr. George Slavich, director of the UCLA Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research. In effect, the authors stated, “It is about time that we take that statistic seriously and start screening for stress in all pediatric and adult clinics in the country. ”
As reported by the HealthDay, In their study that appeared in the Brain, Behavior and Immunity journal the researchers of the nationwide long-range investigation, spearheaded by the National Institute on Aging, compared data of over 2,100 individuals.
Some of the childhood stress the team identified from the participants include economic hardship misuse, neglect, shifting houses, living with parents, and receiving welfare.
The participants also provided samples that allowed research to estimate such disease biomarkers as 25 various diseases, and asked whether the participant was diagnosed in their lifetime for 20 various severe diseases.
This study depicted that post childhood stress, both men and women were at high risk to develop health issues.
They also noted that stress impact was also varied with gender differences being identified by the researchers.
Thus, the findings have revealed that stress occurring during childhood was more detrimental to female metabolism than the metabolism of male subjects.
In contrast, emotional abuse, and neglect seem to have a more severe impact on male’s health and particularly blood disorders, mental and behavioral disorders, and thyroid disorders as well.
The results raise the importance of considering stress history as a part of the patient’s record in order to predict his or her potential health issues in the future, Slavich noted. But imagine, Slavich pointed out, the majority of people who have had major life stress or adverse childhood events never receive an evaluation.
“These findings underscore the overall need for stress screening within a clinical context, while also extending beyond the conventional parity model and forcing a shift toward a more ‘precision’ medicine model that is incrementally derived from a patient’s sex and stress profile.