Associations of Childhood Maltreatment and Genetic Risks With Incident Heart Failure in Later Life

BACKGROUND: We aimed to determine the associations of childhood maltreatment with incident heart failure in later life and explore the potentially modifying effects of genetic risk for heart failure on the associations. METHODS AND RESULTS: This cohort study included adults free of heart failure at baseline enrolled between 2006 and 2010 in the UK Biobank. Childhood maltreatment was retrospectively assessed with the online Childhood Trauma Screener in 2016. Five types of childhood maltreatment (range, 0–5), including physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, and sexual abuse, were combined into a total score. A weighted polygenic risk score for heart failure was constructed. Incident all‐cause heart failure was prospectively ascertained via hospital inpatient and death records, followed up to May 31, 2021. A total of 153 287 adults (mean [SD] age, 55.9 [7.7] years; 43.6% male) were included. Over a median of 12.2 years (interquartile range, 11.5–12.9 years) of follow‐up, 2352 participants had incident heart failure. Childhood maltreatment was associated with a greater risk of incident heart failure in a dose‐response manner. One additional type of childhood maltreatment was associated with a 15% increase in the risk of developing heart failure (hazard ratio [HR], 1.15 [95% CI, 1.07–1.23]). There was no statistically significant interaction between genetic risk and childhood maltreatment (P (interaction)=0.218). Among participants with high genetic risk, those with 3 to 5 types of childhood maltreatment had a double hazard (HR, 2.00 [95% CI, 1.43–2.80]) of developing heart failure when taking those without any childhood maltreatment as the reference. CONCLUSIONS: Irrespective of genetic risk for heart failure, childhood maltreatment was associated with an increased risk of incident heart failure in a dose‐dependent manner.