Most of us are aware that a rough childhood can cause many health problems for a person when they become a young or middle-aged adult.
However, scientists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have discovered that the effects of traumatic childhood experiences can stretch far beyond these stages.
They have found that these experiences can continue to influence a person’s health even as they enter old age.
Researchers found that senior citizens in the U.S. who had gone through stressful or traumatic experiences during their childhood were more likely to suffer both physical and cognitive difficulties.
These experiences could range from exposure to physical violence or abuse, serious illness, financial strain in the family, or being separated from their parents.
Hard Numbers Reveal Hard Lives
The researchers’ findings, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, revealed shocking statistics.
They found that those who experienced violence in their childhood were 40% more likely to suffer from mobility issues and were 80% more likely to struggle with daily tasks.
For those who had unhappy family lives, they were 40% more likely to have at least mild cognitive impairments.
“Stressful experiences in early life can have implications all the way into older age,” said senior author Dr. Alison J. Huang, a UCSF professor of medicine and director of research in General Internal Medicine at UCSF Health.
This means that a person who had a difficult childhood could have a higher risk of experiencing issues such as difficulty walking, completing daily tasks, or memory problems as they grow old.
Childhood Adversities: A Nationwide Issue
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 60% of U.S. adults have experienced one or more types of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), events that can upset a child’s sense of safety or stability.
These experiences have been linked to a range of long-term physical and mental health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, and depression.
Even though older adults carry the greatest burden of most health conditions, there’s little research documenting the health effects of ACEs across a person’s entire life.
To address this, the researchers in this study gathered data from almost 3,400 participants aged between 50 and 97.
They asked participants about ACEs and tested their balance, walking, cognition, and memory abilities. They also assessed their difficulty with performing everyday tasks.
Recognizing the Problem Early
They found that 44% of the participants had experienced at least one ACE between the ages of 6 and 16.
“Given how common ACEs were among our participants, it shows that stressful early life experiences may be markers of risk of functional impairment and disability later in life,” said Victoria M. Lee, the study’s first author and a UCSF medical student.
This study highlights the need for health care providers to consider a person’s history of ACEs when providing care, particularly for older adults.
This new understanding of how ACEs can impact health throughout a person’s life brings up questions about how to better screen and prevent these lifelong effects.
Recognizing the impacts of childhood trauma early could help identify adults who might benefit from preventative measures to reduce functional decline as they age.
The hope is that this research will lead to better care and support for those who had a tough start in life. It’s never too late to address the shadows of the past and help individuals have a healthier and more fulfilling old age.
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The study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
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