Children who suffer abuse or neglect at home are about four times as likely to develop potentially fatal health problems, including heart disease, liver failure, depression, diabetes, and chronic lung disease, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Tuesday.
“We now know that adverse childhood experiences have a significant impact on an individual’s future health,” said CDC Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield.
The first-of-its-kind study measured seven categories of childhood trauma: psychological, physical or sexual abuse; violence against the mother; or living with people who were substance abusers, mentally ill, suicidal, or at some points imprisoned.
More than half of respondents, of which there were 9,508, had experienced at least one form of abuse. Those who had experienced four or more types of abuse were 4 to 12 times as likely as those who did not to later experience potentially deadly psychological and physical diseases.
“Up to 1.9 million cases of heart disease could be prevented if the [bad childhood experiences] were prevented, and could have prevented up to 20 million cases of depression,” said CDC Principal Deputy Director Dr. Anne Schuchat.
More often than not, the study said, respondents who reported various health issues in adulthood said they stemmed from engaging in unhealthy coping mechanisms, including heavy drinking, drug use, overeating, and risky sexual behaviors. All of these actions would result in some of the leading causes of death from liver disease, heart attacks, major depression, and cancers.
The majority of people who responded to the questionnaire, which was assembled from several other published surveys about the effects of individual types of abuse, reported experiencing more than one type of deleterious childhood events, rather than strictly sexual abuse or living with an alcoholic or drug-addicted parent.
Schuchat told reporters that one measure to prevent long-term health effects of childhood traumas would be paid family leave, geared toward helping parents and caregivers provide children with a stable home life.
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