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Pathways between early‐life adversity and adolescent self‐harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as physical and emotional abuse are strongly associated with self‐harm, but mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. Inflammation has been linked to both the experience of ACEs and self‐harm or suicide in prior research. This is the f...

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Autores principales: Russell, Abigail Emma, Heron, Jon, Gunnell, David, Ford, Tamsin, Hemani, Gibran, Joinson, Carol, Moran, Paul, Relton, Caroline, Suderman, Matthew, Mars, Becky
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6771906/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31486089
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13100
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author Russell, Abigail Emma
Heron, Jon
Gunnell, David
Ford, Tamsin
Hemani, Gibran
Joinson, Carol
Moran, Paul
Relton, Caroline
Suderman, Matthew
Mars, Becky
author_facet Russell, Abigail Emma
Heron, Jon
Gunnell, David
Ford, Tamsin
Hemani, Gibran
Joinson, Carol
Moran, Paul
Relton, Caroline
Suderman, Matthew
Mars, Becky
author_sort Russell, Abigail Emma
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as physical and emotional abuse are strongly associated with self‐harm, but mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. Inflammation has been linked to both the experience of ACEs and self‐harm or suicide in prior research. This is the first study to examine whether inflammatory markers mediate the association between exposure to ACEs and self‐harm. METHODS: Participants were 4,308 young people from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a population‐based birth cohort in the United Kingdom. A structural equation modelling approach was used to fit a mediation model with the number of ACEs experienced between ages 0 and 9 years old (yo), levels of the inflammatory markers interleukin‐6 and C‐reactive protein measured at 9.5 yo, and self‐harm reported at 16 yo. RESULTS: The mean number of ACEs young people experienced was 1.41 (SE 0.03). Higher ACE scores were associated with an increased risk of self‐harm at 16 yo (direct effect relative risk (RR) per additional ACE 1.11, 95% CI 1.05, 1.18, p < 0.001). We did not find evidence of an indirect effect of ACEs on self‐harm via inflammation (RR 1.00, 95% CI 1.00, 1.01, p = 0.38). CONCLUSIONS: Young people who have been exposed to ACEs are a group at high risk of self‐harm. The association between ACEs and self‐harm does not appear to be mediated by an inflammatory process in childhood, as indexed by peripheral levels of circulating inflammatory markers measured in childhood. Further research is needed to identify alternative psychological and biological mechanisms underlying this relationship.
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spelling pubmed-67719062019-10-07 Pathways between early‐life adversity and adolescent self‐harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Russell, Abigail Emma Heron, Jon Gunnell, David Ford, Tamsin Hemani, Gibran Joinson, Carol Moran, Paul Relton, Caroline Suderman, Matthew Mars, Becky J Child Psychol Psychiatry Original Articles BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as physical and emotional abuse are strongly associated with self‐harm, but mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. Inflammation has been linked to both the experience of ACEs and self‐harm or suicide in prior research. This is the first study to examine whether inflammatory markers mediate the association between exposure to ACEs and self‐harm. METHODS: Participants were 4,308 young people from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a population‐based birth cohort in the United Kingdom. A structural equation modelling approach was used to fit a mediation model with the number of ACEs experienced between ages 0 and 9 years old (yo), levels of the inflammatory markers interleukin‐6 and C‐reactive protein measured at 9.5 yo, and self‐harm reported at 16 yo. RESULTS: The mean number of ACEs young people experienced was 1.41 (SE 0.03). Higher ACE scores were associated with an increased risk of self‐harm at 16 yo (direct effect relative risk (RR) per additional ACE 1.11, 95% CI 1.05, 1.18, p < 0.001). We did not find evidence of an indirect effect of ACEs on self‐harm via inflammation (RR 1.00, 95% CI 1.00, 1.01, p = 0.38). CONCLUSIONS: Young people who have been exposed to ACEs are a group at high risk of self‐harm. The association between ACEs and self‐harm does not appear to be mediated by an inflammatory process in childhood, as indexed by peripheral levels of circulating inflammatory markers measured in childhood. Further research is needed to identify alternative psychological and biological mechanisms underlying this relationship. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2019-09-04 2019-10 /pmc/articles/PMC6771906/ /pubmed/31486089 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13100 Text en © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Russell, Abigail Emma
Heron, Jon
Gunnell, David
Ford, Tamsin
Hemani, Gibran
Joinson, Carol
Moran, Paul
Relton, Caroline
Suderman, Matthew
Mars, Becky
Pathways between early‐life adversity and adolescent self‐harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
title Pathways between early‐life adversity and adolescent self‐harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
title_full Pathways between early‐life adversity and adolescent self‐harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
title_fullStr Pathways between early‐life adversity and adolescent self‐harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
title_full_unstemmed Pathways between early‐life adversity and adolescent self‐harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
title_short Pathways between early‐life adversity and adolescent self‐harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children
title_sort pathways between early‐life adversity and adolescent self‐harm: the mediating role of inflammation in the avon longitudinal study of parents and children
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6771906/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31486089
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13100
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