Childhood emotional trauma linked to heightened MS risk among women

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/948355

 

 News Release 4-Apr-2022
Peer-Reviewed Publication
BMJ

 

Childhood trauma may be linked to a heightened risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) in later life among women, finds research published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

The observed associations were strongest for sexual abuse and for experience of several categories of abuse, the findings show.

The evidence suggests that childhood trauma can alter the immune system and may increase the risk of autoimmune disease. Abuse, neglect, and a chaotic home life are also associated with a heightened risk of poor mental and physical health in adulthood. But it’s not known if these experiences might also increase susceptibility to MS.

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 This is an observational study, and as such, can’t establish cause. And other environmental factors, such as diet, nutrition, physical activity levels, and parental smoking, which weren’t accounted for, might all be independently important, acknowledge the researchers.

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But there may be plausible biological explanations for the associations found, say the researchers. Childhood abuse can disrupt brain and glandular signalling—the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis—prompting a proinflammatory state, they say.

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 tags: child abuse,