The DOI matches its Crossref record; 71 of the 73 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Childhood Adversity Heightens the Impact of Later-Life Caregiving Stress on Telomere Length and Inflammation
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To address the question of whether childhood abuse and other adversities have lasting, detectable consequences for inflammation and cell aging late in life, and whether the effects are large enough to be discernible beyond that of a major chronic stressor, dementia family caregiving. Previous research on the physical health consequences of childhood abuse and other adversities has been based on data from young or middle-aged adults. METHOD: In this community sample of 132 healthy older adults (mean age = 69.70 years; standard deviation = 10.14), including 58 dementia family caregivers and 74 non-caregivers, blood samples were analyzed for interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and telomere length, a measure of cell aging. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. RESULTS: After controlling for age, caregiving status, gender, body mass index, exercise, and sleep, the presence of multiple childhood adversities was related to both heightened IL-6 (0.37 ± 0.03 log10 pg/mL versus 0.44 ± 0.03 log10 pg/mL) and shorter telomeres (6.51 ± 0.17 Kb versus 5.87 ± 0.20 Kb), compared with the absence of adversity; the telomere difference could translate into a 7- to 15-year difference in life span. Abuse was associated with heightened IL-6 and TNF-α levels; for TNF-α, this relationship was magnified in caregivers compared with controls. Moreover, abuse and caregiving status were associated significantly and independently with higher levels of depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse childhood events are related to continued vulnerability among older adults, enhancing the impact of chronic stressors. Childhood adversities cast a very long shadow.
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“higher levels of IL-6 and TNFα in a community sample of older adults”
From From stress to inflammation and major depressive disorder: A social signal transduction theory of depression. (2014) · cites this paper as Kiecolt-Glaser, Gouin, et al., 2011
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α are elevated with childhood maltreatment (Gouin et al, 2012;Hartwell et al, 2013;Kiecolt-Glaser et al, 2011;Smith et al, 2011;Tietjen et al, 2012).”
From Inflammation in Fear- and Anxiety-Based Disorders: PTSD, GAD, and Beyond (2017) · cites this paper as Kiecolt-Glaser et al, 2011
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“exposure to ELA was prospectively and retrospectively associated with an increased inflammation in later life (Danese et al., 2008; Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2011; Coelho et al., 2014).”
From The interplay between stress, inflammation, and emotional attention: relevance for depression (2019) · cites this paper as Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2011
In the citing paper
“Pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations are inversely correlated with LTL in MDD (Wolkowitz et al., 2011a), in individuals with histories of early life stress (Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2011), and in healthy individuals with high C-reactive protein levels or high cumulative inflammatory load (O'Donovan et al., 2011b; Revesz et al., 2013).”
From Psychiatric disorders and leukocyte telomere length: Underlying mechanisms linking mental illness with cellular aging (2015) · cites this paper as Kiecolt-Glaser et al., 2011
In the citing paper
“Chronic psychological stress has been associated with shorter telomeres during childhood and adulthood, though not consistently.”
From Determinants of telomere attrition over 1 year in healthy older women: stress and health behaviors matter (2015) · cites this paper as [23]
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Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress
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2 of the 73 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
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Slavich, G. M., & Irwin, M. R. (2014) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0035302 · Cited by 2,206
Adverse childhood experiences, allostasis, allostatic load and age-related disease
Danese, A., & McEwen, B. S. (2012) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.08.019 · Cited by 2,140
Miller, G. E., Chen, E., & Parker, K. J. (2011) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0024768 · Cited by 1,785
So depression is an inflammatory disease, but where does the inflammation come from?
Berk, M., Williams, L. J., Jacka, F. N., O’Neil, A., Pasco, J. A., Moylan, S., Allen, N. B., Stuart, A. L., Hayley, A. C., Byrne, M. L., et al. (2013) · BMC Medicine · doi:10.1186/1741-7015-11-200 · Cited by 1,423
Baumeister, D., Akhtar, R., Ciufolini, S., Pariante, C. M., & Mondelli, V (2016) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/mp.2015.67 · Cited by 1,084
Metadata
- Authors
- Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., Gouin, J.-P., Weng, N.-P., Malarkey, W. B., Beversdorf, D. Q., & Glaser, R.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Glaser, Ronald
- Venue
- Psychosomatic Medicine
- Published
- 2011-01
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 16-22
- ISSN
- 0033-3174 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3051180
- OpenAlex
- W2141379992
- Cited by
- 430
- References
- 73
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 41 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 27 · 2012: 34
- FWCI
- 28.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychosomatic Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Aging (AG025732, R21AG025732)
- National Cancer Institute (CA16058, P30CA016058)
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR025755)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Keywords
- childhood adversity, childhood abuse, dementia caregiving, family caregivers, telomere length, cellular aging, inflammation, interleukin-6, TNF-α, depressive symptoms, chronic stress, older adults
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Child, Child Abuse, Depression, Female, Humans, Inflammation, Leukocytes, Mononuclear, Life Change Events, Male, Psychoneuroimmunology, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Stress, Psychological, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Interleukin-6, Body Mass Index, Telomere, Cellular Senescence, Caregivers, Adult Survivors of Child Abuse
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