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Childhood Maltreatment May Up Risk for Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Disorders

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Jan 23, 2025.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 23, 2025 -- On a global scale, childhood maltreatment is associated with a higher risk for developing some immune-mediated inflammatory disorders (IMIDs), according to a study published online Nov. 30 in Heliyon.

Liam Snook, from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, and colleagues investigated the association between childhood maltreatment and IMIDs. The analysis included 256,130 exposed patients and 712,478 matched, unexposed patients identified from a U.K. primary care database (Jan. 1, 1995, to Jan. 31, 2021).

The researchers found that individuals exposed to childhood maltreatment had a significantly increased risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.39) and psoriasis (aHR, 1.16). However, there was no statistically significant association with the risk for developing inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, or systemic lupus erythematosus. Exposed individuals had a lower risk for celiac disease (aHR, 0.74) versus the unexposed group.

"Childhood maltreatment is estimated to affect one in three children globally; therefore, an increased risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis represents a substantial contribution to the burden of IMIDs," the authors write. "Implementation of broad public health approaches to prevent and detect childhood maltreatment and its negative downstream consequences, such as IMID development, is essential."

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

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Posted January 2025

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