Adverse childhood experiences and physiological wear-and-tear in adolescence

Abstract Background The short-term embodiment of social experiences during childhood has not been widely studied. Thus, we aimed to investigate the impact of early-life exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on physical health outcomes in adolescence. These outcomes were measured using the allostatic load (AL) index, a robust biomarker of cumulative biological dysregulation across multiple physiological systems. Methods We utilized data from 3787 participants in the Generation XXI birth cohort, collected during the baseline (2005-06), third (2016-17), and fourth waves (2018-20). Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained from linear and logistic regression analyses to estimate the associations between the AL index at age 13 and ACEs measured at ages 10 and 13. Results We found a significant association between exposure to ACE at age 13 and an elevated AL index at the same age (β = 0.004; 95% CI [0.001; 0.006]), but not at age 10 (β = 0.001; 95%CI [-0.002; 0.004]). In the analysis of individual ACEs, we found that when ACEs occurred before age 10, parental separation or divorce (β = 0.024; 95%CI [0.007; 0.042]) emerged as a significant factor contributing to increased AL index. When adversity occurred between ages 10 and 13, school difficulties (β = 0.016; 95%CI [0.002; 0.031) and household alcohol/drug use (β = 0.070; 95%CI [0.019; 0.121]) during this period were associated with increased AL burden at age 13, after adjusting for covariates. The metabolic and immune systems appear to be particularly sensitive to the effects of ACEs. Conclusions while adverse health outcomes are expected to manifest later in life due to the toll on physiological processes and the emergence of AL, our study has uncovered compelling evidence of high AL accumulation as early as 13 years of age. Key messages • Childhood and adolescence are critical periods where adversity increases biological risk, potentially leading to future disease. • Policy interventions to reduce ACEs can help mitigate long-term health risks and lower the burden of age-related diseases.