New Study Finds That DNA Responses To Childhood Trauma Could Illuminate Long-Term Health Issues In Adulthood
Unfortunately, childhood trauma is much more common than you might think. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), over sixty-six percent of children report experiencing at least one traumatic event by the age of sixteen.
And sadly, trauma can include everything from psychological abuse, physical abuse, and neglect to school violence, natural disasters, or terrorism.
But, a new study conducted by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Pharmacy has found a promising way to help identify children with the greatest need for post-traumatic treatment and intervention following these events.
In fact, the researchers discovered that epigenetic traces of childhood trauma could actually be utilized as biomarkers. Then, these biomarkers can be used to predict people’s risk of depression, alcohol use, nicotine dependence, and various other health issues nearly seventeen years after the trauma.
To first ascertain whether or not a childhood trauma increases people’s health risks later on in life, the research team started by analyzing epigenetics.
Epigenetics is the study of how environments and behaviors can change the way your genes are expressed. However, these molecular changes do not alter DNA sequences themselves.
So, the team analyzed blood samples and clinical data collected via the Great Smoky Mountain Study– a thirty-year project conducted by Duke University and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
The project began surveying hundreds of adolescents between the ages of nine and thirteen and then followed them into adulthood.
“There are few studies in the world that have collected this kind of data for so long,” said Karolina Aberg, a co-author of the study– which made the Great Smoky Mountain Study a prime candidate for this kind of analysis.
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The researchers then measured nearly twenty-eight million individual sites for methylation within the blood samples. Methylation is a well-known epigenetic change in which a DNA molecule gains a methyl group.
“Changes to DNA methylation can occur at different points in our lives depending on several factors, such as our development, age, diet, health habits, and other life circumstances– like trauma,” Aberg explained.
And the team found that their identified methylation changes correlated with participants’ reports of trauma exposure, including serious injuries, violence, and threatened risk of death. Then, using machine learning, the researchers were able to link the clinical data that was collected in adulthood to trauma-related methylation changes that were experienced during childhood.
This ultimately provided the team with methylation risk scores for various adverse consequences such as physical health issues, psychiatric disorders, substance abuse, social problems, and poverty.
Moreover, further analyses found that these risk scores could accurately predict a person’s health issues up to seventeen years after their trauma exposure. This finding is groundbreaking since it underscores how every single person experiences different impacts stemming from childhood trauma.
Additionally, the research team hopes this discovery of methylation biomarkers’ significance in regard to trauma could help with the early identification of those at risk for trauma-related health issues.
“If we can determine who is the most in need of preventative care, we can tailor their treatments and support networks to put them on the best path for recovery,” said Edwin van den Oord, the study’s lead author.
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in Molecular Psychiatry, visit the link here.
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