B4619 - Associations between adverse childhood experiences and cardiovascular risk factors in later life Exploring mechanisms and influ - 16/05/2024
Existing research has demonstrated that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as exposure to violence or childhood abuse, may be associated with negative impacts upon health in later life - for example, increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, within their 2017 scientific statement the American Heart Association made a call for further research which used data collected prospectively, i.e., following a population from childhood through to adulthood, to improve the reliability of ACEs measurement (as opposed to recalling ACEs at an adult age) and allow for measurement of possible mechanisms linking adversity exposures to health outcomes in later life. To achieve this, the present project aims to assess how ACEs, measured at 0-16 years of age, may be associated with the risk of CVD measured in early adulthood, from the ALSPAC dataset. We aim to build upon existing research by looking into how various factors, such as mental health status and behaviours posing a detrimental risk upon health during childhood and adolescence (i.e. smoking or low levels of physical activity) might help to explain these relationships. Further, we will also address potential physiological mechanisms, such as biomarkers of inflammation, that might contribute to the associations between ACEs and CVD. It is also important to consider how socio-demographic factors or environmental factors such as social class, economic status of the family, and sex of the child could alter the strength of associations between ACEs and CVD; thus, the impacts of these factors will also be measured within our analyses.