Maltreated Children More Likely To Suffer From Multiple Health Conditions As Adults, Says Study

People who have suffered maltreatment in childhood have an increased risk of multiple health issues later in life, a new study pointed out.

Experts at the University of Glasgow used data from the United Kingdom Biobank, which included more than 157,000 participants, to examine the association between childhood maltreatment and the presence of multiple health conditions or "multimorbidity" during adulthood. They included all four forms of childhood maltreatment -- physical, sexual, emotional and neglect -- as part of the study.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), child maltreatment is the abuse and neglect that occurs to kids below 18 years of age and included "all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power".

The findings of the new study published in the Journal of Comorbidity revealed people who had experienced all four types of maltreatment during their childhood were five times as likely to have at least four long-term health conditions compared to those who were never maltreated as a child.

They also found the following about people who had suffered all four types of childhood maltreatment:

• They were more likely to be socially isolated
• More than thrice as likely to report poor health, loneliness, frailty and chronic pain
• Also highly likely to suffer from mental health conditions

The researchers found people who suffered just one type of childhood maltreatment also developed long-term ailments like chronic pain and frailty. While multiple types of childhood maltreatment were rarely reported, the researchers found overall childhood maltreatment affected a relatively large proportion of people. About 33% of the study participants had gone through at least one form of maltreatment during their childhood.

"Our findings are in keeping with the growing body of research looking at the impact of childhood adversity on future health and social outcomes. Our work, alongside other studies, suggests in this area, suggests that childhood maltreatment can have consequences in later life, including the development of multimorbidity in adulthood," said the study’s lead researcher Professor Frances Mair of the University of Glasgow.

"Our findings suggest people experiencing childhood maltreatment are not only at risk of higher numbers of long term health conditions in adulthood, but they are also experiencing factors that will complicate self-management and practitioner work – such as mental health problems and isolation – with implications for the resources needed to manage these patients well," he added.