Faculty Opinions recommendation of Childhood maltreatment and telomere shortening: preliminary support for an effect of early stress on cellular aging.

A growing body of literature on military personnel and veterans’ health suggests that prior military service may be associated with exposures that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which may differ by race/ethnicity. This study examined the hypothesis that differential telomere shortening, a measure of cellular aging, by race/ethnicity may explain prior findings of differential CVD risk in racial/ethnic groups with military service. Data from the first two continuous waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), administered from 1999–2002 were analyzed. Mean telomere length in base pairs was analyzed with multivariable adjusted linear regression with complex sample design, stratified by sex. The unadjusted mean telomere length was 225.8 base shorter for individuals with prior military service. The mean telomere length for men was 47.2 (95% CI: −92.9, −1.5; p < 0.05) base pairs shorter for men with military service after adjustment for demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral variables, but did not differ significantly in women with and without prior military service. The interaction between military service and race/ethnicity was not significant for men or women. The results suggest that military service may contribute to accelerated aging as a result of health damaging exposures, such as combat, injury, and environmental contaminants, though other unmeasured confounders could also potentially explain the results.

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Long-term consequences of childhood maltreatment: Altered amygdala functional connectivity

Development and Psychopathology ◽

10.1017/s0954579415000954 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 27 (4pt2) ◽

pp. 1577-1589 ◽

Cited By ~ 66

Author(s):

Kelly Jedd ◽

Ruskin H. Hunt ◽

Dante Cicchetti ◽

Emily Hunt ◽

Raquel A. Cowell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Childhood Maltreatment ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Healthy Development ◽

Early Stress ◽

History Of ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship

AbstractChildhood maltreatment is a serious individual, familial, and societal threat that compromises healthy development and is associated with lasting alterations to emotion perception, processing, and regulation (Cicchetti & Curtis, 2005; Pollak, Cicchetti, Hornung, & Reed, 2000; Pollak & Tolley-Schell, 2003). Individuals with a history of maltreatment show altered structural and functional brain development in both frontal and limbic structures (Hart & Rubia, 2012). In particular, previous research has identified hyperactive amygdala responsivity associated with childhood maltreatment (e.g., Dannlowski et al., 2012). However, less is known about the impact of maltreatment on the relationship between the amygdala and other brain regions. The present study employed an emotion processing functional magnetic resonance imaging task to examine task-based activation and functional connectivity in adults who experienced maltreatment as children. The sample included adults with a history of substantiated childhood maltreatment (n = 33) and comparison adults (n = 38) who were well matched on demographic variables, all of whom have been studied prospectively since childhood. The maltreated group exhibited greater activation than comparison participants in the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia. In addition, maltreated adults showed increased amygdala connectivity with the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. The results suggest that the intense early stress of childhood maltreatment is associated with lasting alterations to frontolimbic circuitry.

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Telomere Shortening and Mood Disorders: Preliminary Support for a Chronic Stress Model of Accelerated Aging

Biological Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.02.004 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 60 (5) ◽

pp. 432-435 ◽

Cited By ~ 334

Author(s):

Naomi M. Simon ◽

Jordan W. Smoller ◽

Kate L. McNamara ◽

Richard S. Maser ◽

Alyson K. Zalta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mood Disorders ◽

Chronic Stress ◽

Accelerated Aging ◽

Stress Model ◽

Telomere Shortening ◽

Preliminary Support

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Stochastic Mechanism of Cellular Aging—Abrupt Telomere Shortening as a Model for Stochastic Nature of Cellular Aging

Journal of Theoretical Biology ◽

10.1006/jtbi.1998.0886 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 197 (4) ◽

pp. 425-438 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

Ivica Rubelj ◽

Zoran Vondracek

Keyword(s):

Cellular Aging ◽

Telomere Shortening ◽

Stochastic Nature ◽

Stochastic Mechanism

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Early Life Stress, Frontoamygdala Connectivity, and Biological Aging in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Investigation

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhaa057 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (7) ◽

pp. 4269-4280 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jonas G Miller ◽

Tiffany C Ho ◽

Kathryn L Humphreys ◽

Lucy S King ◽

Lara C Foland-Ross ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Life Stress ◽

Early Life ◽

Developmental Process ◽

Early Life Stress ◽

Neural Circuitry ◽

Cellular Aging ◽

Biological Aging ◽

Telomere Shortening ◽

Pubertal Tempo ◽

Negative Coupling

Abstract Early life stress (ELS) may accelerate frontoamygdala development related to socioemotional processing, serving as a potential source of resilience. Whether this circuit is associated with other proposed measures of accelerated development is unknown. In a sample of young adolescents, we examined the relations among ELS, frontoamygdala circuitry during viewing of emotional faces, cellular aging as measured by telomere shortening, and pubertal tempo. We found that greater cumulative severity of ELS was associated with stronger negative coupling between bilateral centromedial amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a pattern that may reflect more mature connectivity. More negative frontoamygdala coupling (for distinct amygdala subdivisions) was associated with slower telomere shortening and pubertal tempo over 2 years. These potentially protective associations of negative frontoamygdala connectivity were most pronounced in adolescents who had been exposed to higher ELS. Our findings provide support for the formulation that ELS accelerates maturation of frontoamygdala connectivity and provide novel evidence that this neural circuitry confers protection against accelerated biological aging, particularly for adolescents who have experienced higher ELS. Although negative frontoamygdala connectivity may be an adaptation to ELS, frontoamygdala connectivity, cellular aging, and pubertal tempo do not appear to be measures of the same developmental process.

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Genetic and Environmental Overlap Between Childhood Maltreatment and Adult Physical Health

Twin Research and Human Genetics ◽

10.1017/thg.2015.62 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 533-544 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Susan C. South ◽

Markus H. Schafer ◽

Kenneth F. Ferraro

Keyword(s):

Physical Health ◽

Childhood Maltreatment ◽

Past Research ◽

Causal Link ◽

Adult Health ◽

Exogenous Shock ◽

Environmental Correlations ◽

Early Stress ◽

Effect Model ◽

Adult Physical Health

Past research demonstrates a phenotypic relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult health problems. Explanations of this association usually point to either: (a) a direct causal link, whereby exposure to early stress disrupts biological functioning during sensitive periods of development; or (b) an indirect effect operating through socioeconomic attainment, poor health behaviors, or some other pathway leading from childhood to adulthood. The current study examined whether the association between childhood maltreatment and adult health reflects genetic or environmental mediation. Using a large sample of adult American twins, we separately estimated univariate biometric models of child maltreatment and adult physical health, followed by a bivariate biometric model to estimate genetic and environmental correlations between the two variables. We found that a summary count of chronic health conditions shared non-trivial genetic overlap with childhood maltreatment. Our results have implications for understanding the relationship between maltreatment and health as one of active interplay rather than a simple cause and effect model that views maltreatment as an exogenous shock.

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