Arthritis May Be Linked to Childhood Trauma

The more frequently and severely a child is mistreated growing up, the more likely he or she is to develop arthritis by adulthood, according to new findings.

To reach their conclusion, the researchers analyzed 21,889 responses of adults aged 18 years or older who responded to the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey – Mental Health.

Responses to the survey question “things that may have happened to you before you were 16 in your school, in your neighborhood, or in your family” were used in analysis.

Overall, 17.5% of respondents reported having arthritis, but adults who said they had experienced frequent and/or severe childhood physical abuse and childhood sexual abuse, as well as those who had frequent childhood exposure to intimate partner violence, reported arthritis at a higher rate.

Of those who had reported childhood physical abuse, 32% were diagnosed with arthritis by a health professional. Of those who had experienced childhood sexual abuse or childhood exposure to intimate partner violence, 27% developed arthritis.

The link between arthritis and childhood mistreatment was still present after the researchers controlled for other variables, such as societal or demographical data.

“[These findings] might reflect the role of the enduring immune and metabolic abnormalities and chronic inflammation associated with childhood maltreatment in the etiopathogensis of osteoarthritis (OA) or be an indicator of the role of joint injury in causing OA,” the researchers concluded.

—Colleen Murphy

Reference:

Badley EM, Shields M, O’Donnell S, Hovdestad WE, Tonmyr L. Childhood maltreatment as a risk factor for arthritis: Findings from a population‐based survey of Canadian adults [published online October 17, 2018]. Arthritis Care Res. https://doi.org/10.1002/acr.23776.