Mian, O., Belsky, D. W., Cohen, A. A., Anderson, L. N., Gonzalez, A., Ma, J., Sloboda, D. M., Bowdish, D. M. and Verschoor, C. P. (2022). Associations between exposure to adverse childhood experiences and biological aging: Evidence from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105821
Adverse childhood experiences are linked to chronic disease, shorter lifespans and signs of early cellular aging, which suggests they may speed up biological aging, but few large studies have tested this directly. Using blood chemistry and organ-function data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, this study found that middle-aged and older adults with adverse childhood experiences tended to be biologically older than their peers. The effects were generally small but larger for neglect and for more severe, frequent or varied adversity. They were similar for men and women and weaker in older participants. The findings support a link between childhood adversity and accelerated aging, though replication and research on the pathways involved are needed.