Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug 19:9:649825.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.649825. eCollection 2021.

Adverse Childhood Events and Health Biomarkers: A Systematic Review

Sara Soares  1   2 , Vânia Rocha  1   2 , Michelle Kelly-Irving  3 , Silvia Stringhini  4   5 , Sílvia Fraga  1   2
Affiliations

Adverse Childhood Events and Health Biomarkers: A Systematic Review

Sara Soares et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: This systematic review aimed to summarize evidence reporting epigenetic and/or neuro-immuno-endocrine embedding of adverse childhood events (ACEs) in children, with a particular focus on the short-term biological effect of those experiences. Methods: A search was conducted in PsycINFO®, PubMed®, Isi Web of Knowledge and Scopus, until July 2019, to identify papers reporting the short-term biological effects of exposure to ACEs. Results: The search identified 58 studies, that were included in the review. Regarding exposure, the type of ACE more frequently reported was sexual abuse (n = 26), followed by life stressors (n = 20) and physical abuse (n = 19). The majority (n = 17) of studies showed a positive association between ACEs and biomarkers of the immune system. Regarding DNA methylation 18 studies showed more methylation in participants exposed to ACEs. Two studies presented the effect of ACEs on telomere length and showed that exposure was associated with shorter telomere length. Conclusion: Overall the associations observed across studies followed the hypothesis that ACEs are associated with biological risk already at early ages. This is supporting evidence that ACEs appear to get "under the skin" and induce physiological changes and these alterations might be strongly associated with later development of disease.

Keywords: ACES; adverse childhood events; biology of social adversity; biomarkers; review—systematic.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram of the literature search.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequency (number of studies*) by biological mechanism, published per year. *Some papers evaluated more than one biomarker, within or not the same biological mechanism. Year 2019 includes papers published online until July 2019.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Frequency (number of studies*) categorized by presence of association (positive, negative) or absence of association (no association) found between exposure to ACEs and biomarker, by biological mechanism and type of ACE. *Some papers evaluated more than one biomarker, within or not the same biological mechanism.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Felitti VJ, Anda RF, Nordenberg D, Williamson DF, Spitz AM, Edwards V, et al. . Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. The adverse childhood experiences (ACE). Study Am J Prev Med. (1998) 14:245–58. 10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nelson CA, Bhutta ZA, Burke Harris N, Danese A, Samara M. Adversity in childhood is linked to mental and physical health throughout life. BMJ. (2020) 371:m3048. 10.1136/bmj.m3048 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control DOVP . Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control DOVP; (2021).
    1. Frederiksen L. The Developing Brain and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). (2018). Available online at: https://www.pacesconnection.com/blog/the-developing-brain-and-adverse-ch... (accessed February, 2020).
    1. Glodich A. Traumatic exposure to violence: a comprehensive review of the child and adolescent literature. Smith Coll Stud Soc Work. (1998) 68:321–45. 10.1080/00377319809517534 - DOI

Publication types