Effect of male-specific childhood trauma on telomere length

Publication date: Available online 22 October 2018Source: Journal of Psychiatric ResearchAuthor(s): Gabriela Xavier, Letícia M. Spindola, Vanessa K. Ota, Carolina M. Carvalho, Pawan Maurya, Priscila F. Tempaku, Patricia N. Moretti, Diego R. Mazotti, João Ricardo Sato, Elisa Brietzke, Euripedes Constantino Miguel, Rodrigo Grassi, Jair Mari, Rodrigo A. Bressan, Ary Gadelha, Pedro M. Pan, Sintia Iole BelangeroAbstractChild maltreatment (CM) is a global issue with serious lifelong consequences. In fact, maltreatment during childhood might be an important risk factor for the development of psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, previous studies showed a strong relationship between telomere length (TL) and early life stress. Considering that only a few studies have evaluated this relationship in children and that even fewer considered the sex as a possible moderator, we investigated whether TL in the blood of both children and adolescents was associated with psychopathology and with a history of CM, and whether these associations were moderated by the sex. In this cross-sectional study, 561 individuals (ranging between 6 and 14 years of age) from a large prospective community school-based study, i.e., the Brazilian High-Risk Cohort (HRC), were evaluated. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) score was used to assess psychopathology, whereas a latent variable encompassing some questions about history of adverse environment and trauma was employed to determine the CM history. TL was mea...
Source: Journal of Psychiatric Research - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research