Epigenetic Age Acceleration and Risk for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder following Exposure to Substantiated Child Maltreatment

The pediatric buccal epigenetic clock identifies significant ageing acceleration in children with internalizing disorder and maltreatment exposure

“…This apparent moderation supports a subtype of internalizing disorder that manifests in relation to stress and has distinct biological features and pathophysiological pathways ( Heim et al, 2004 ; Teicher and Samson, 2013 ). Using the more accurate and developmentally-sensitive methodology of the PedBE clock, our results provide validation for previous studies results that reported accelerated epigenetic ageing in children with affective disorders or maltreatment exposure based on adult epigenetic clocks ( Austin et al, 2018 ; Hamlat et al, 2021 ; Han et al, 2018 ; Jovanovic et al, 2017 ; Marini et al, 2020 ; Sumner et al, 2019 ; Shenk et al, 2021 ). We extend these findings by providing the stratified moderation analysis identifying a subtype of internalizing disorder and maltreatment exposure that demonstrates accelerated epigenetic ageing.…”

“…A number of studies document accelerated epigenetic ageing in individuals with psychiatric disorders, including major depression ( Han et al, 2018 ), bipolar disorder ( Fries et al, 2017 ), posttraumatic stress disorder ( Shenk et al, 2021 ; Wolf et al, 2019 ), and internalizing symptoms in children ( Tollenaar et al, 2021 ). Accelerated epigenetic ageing has also been reported for cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, and cancer, as well as for all-cause mortality ( Fransquet et al, 2019 ; Horvath et al, 2014 ; Nevalainen et al, 2017 ; Perna et al, 2016 ).…”

Childhood Maltreatment and Biological Aging in Middle Adulthood: The Role of Psychiatric Symptoms

“…However, it is possible that evidence of accelerated biological age may have been evident earlier in the lives of the individuals in the current study. In 2 recent studies of young children who had substantiated cases of child maltreatment prior to study entry ( 72 , 73 ), there was evidence of accelerated aging in relation to anxiety, depression, and PTSD. As pointed out by Zannas ( 74 ), existing research has “assumed unidirectional causality that stress and mental suffering drive accelerated aging” (page E1).…”

Biological embedding vs. embodiment of social experiences: How these two concepts form distinct thought styles around the social production of health inequalities

“…Most of the studies place emphasis on childhood trauma and measure it using scales such as the Childhood Trauma Questionnaires (McCormack et al, 2021), the Comprehensive Trauma Interview Screen (Shenk et al, 2021), and the Risky Families Questionnaires (Carroll et al, 2013). Articles mention that deciphering the biological links be-tween trauma and specific adverse health outcomes may offer the pos-sibility of targeted prevention strategies for at-risk children (Carroll et al, 2013;Shenk et al, 2021). A few of these studies research historical trauma, for instance Indigenous residential school attendance (Moon--Riley et al, 2019).…”