Children who experience physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect are more likely to suffer from chronic pain and disability as adults.
- Children exposed to sexual, physical, emotional abuse or neglect are 45% more likely to report chronic pain as adults.
- Physical abuse during childhood was associated with a higher likelihood of having both chronic pain and disability.
- The authors believe that “there is an urgent need to develop targeted interventions and support systems to break the cycle of adversity.”
There is an urgent need to take measures to mitigate the long-term impact of traumatic events experienced before the age of 18 on adult health. This is the recent message sent by an international team of researchers. In a study, published in the journal European Journal of Psychotraumatologythey found that abused children, particularly those subjected to physical abuse, are at increased risk of chronic pain and disability as adults.
Chronic pain, disability: more risks in the event of exposure to physical violence
To reach this conclusion, scientists analyzed 85 studies including 826,452 adults. These assessed associations between traumatic childhood experiences (sexual, physical, emotional abuse or neglect) alone or in combination with other types of indirect events (witnessing domestic violence, mental illness within the household) and chronic pain and pain-related disability (when daily activities are limited by chronic pain).
According to the results, people exposed to a so-called “direct” traumatic experience during their childhood, whether physical, sexual or emotional abuse, or neglect, were 45% more likely to report chronic pain in childhood. adulthood than those not exposed. The authors found that childhood physical abuse was associated with a higher likelihood of reporting both chronic pain and pain-related disability.
“More than a billion children are exposed to traumatic events every year”
“This data is extremely concerning, especially as more than a billion children, half of the world’s child population, are exposed to traumatic events each year. There is an urgent need to develop targeted and effective interventions. support systems to break the cycle of adversity and improve long-term health outcomes for people who were exposed to childhood maltreatment. said Dr André Bussières, lead author of the work, in a statement.
Faced with these results, the team proposes that future research examine the biological mechanisms by which childhood trauma affects health throughout life, with the aim of deepening understanding and developing means to mitigate their impact.