ABSTRACT
Introduction
This meta-analysis aimed to examine the association of child abuse with adult coronary
heart disease (CHD) risk and separately by abuse subtypes, including emotional abuse,
sexual abuse, and physical abuse.
Methods
Data were extracted from studies published up through December 2021 and based on research
from PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. Studies were selected if they included
adults with or without any type of child abuse and measured the risk of any type of
CHD. Statistical analyses were conducted in 2022. The random effects model was used
to pool the effect estimates presented by RRs with 95% CIs. Heterogeneity was assessed
using Q and I2 statistics.
Results
The pooled estimates were synthesized using 24 effect sizes from 10 studies with a
sample size of 343,371 adults. Adults with child abuse were associated with higher
risk of CHD compared with those without (RR=1.52, 95% CI=1.29, 1.79), and the association
was similar for myocardial infarction (RR=1.50, 95 % CI=1.08, 2.10) and unspecified
CHD (RR=1.58, 95% CI=1.23, 2.02). Moreover, emotional (RR=1.48, 95% CI=1.29, 1.71),
sexual (RR=1.47, 95% CI=1.15, 1.88), and physical abuse (RR=1.48, 95% CI=1.22, 1.79)
were associated with increased risk of CHD.
Discussion
Child abuse was associated with an increased risk of adult CHD. Results were generally
consistent across abuse subtypes and sex. The present study advocates further research
on biological mechanisms linking child abuse to CHD, as well as improvement in CHD
risk prediction and targeted prevention approaches.
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Copyright
© 2023 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
