Mechanisms underlying the association between early-life adversity and physical health: charting a course for the future
Open accessAbstract
Early-life adversities (ELA) are associated with subsequent pervasive alterations across a wide range of neurobiological systems and psychosocial factors that contribute to accelerated onset of health problems and diseases. In this article, we provide an integrated perspective on recent developments in research on ELA, based on the articles published in this Special Issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. We focus on the following: 1) the distinction between specific versus general aspects of ELA with regard to the nature of exposure (e.g., physical and sexual abuse, emotional abuse or neglect, relative socioeconomic deprivation), biological and behavioral correlates of ELA, and differences across diseases; 2) the importance of timing in the critical phases of exposure to ELA; and 3) adaptive versus dysfunctional responses to ELA and their consequences for biological and behavioral risk factors for adverse health outcomes. This article concludes with outlining important new targets for research in this area, including the neurobiology of affect as a mechanism linking ELA to adverse health outcomes, and the need for large-scale longitudinal investigations of multisystem processes relevant to ELA in diverse samples, starting prenatally, continuing to late adolescence, and with long-term follow-up assessments that enable evaluation of incident disease outcomes.
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Dysregulation of allostatic systems can manifest as either hypo- or hyper-responsiveness to stress later in life, with consequent impairment in endogenous pain regulation.
“However, dysregulation of allostatic systems can manifest as either hypo- or hyper- responsiveness to stress later in life,(14–16) with consequent impairment in endogenous pain regulation.(17–19)”
The blunted cortisol-AUC observed at baseline in those with ELAb may explain, in part, why women with ELAb are at risk for pain disorders.
“and may explain, in part, why women with ELAb are at risk for pain disorders.(17,19)”
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- Authors
- Bush, N. R., Lane, R. D., & McLaughlin, K. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bush, Nicole R.
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 2016-11
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1114-1119
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- 1534-7796
- PMC
- PMC5111624
- OpenAlex
- W2533053448
- Cited by
- 44
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 8.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL116511, R01HL103692)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH103291, R01MH106482)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U54HD083091)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Keywords
- childhood adversity, physical health, childhood abuse, socioeconomic deprivation, biological risk factors, behavioral risk factors, disease onset, prenatal exposure
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Child, Child Abuse, Health Status, Humans, Social Class
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