Associations Between Maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences and Children’s Physical Health Conditions: A Longitudinal Study

Maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), defined as negative events experienced before 18 years of age (e.g., physical abuse), have been linked to intergenerational impacts on children’s physical health. However, research examining associations between maternal ACEs and preschool children’s non-psychiatric neurological, respiratory, sensory, digestive, immune, renal, and hematologic conditions remains limited or non-existent, particularly in Canada. This novel Canadian study examined these associations in preschool-aged children. This study used data from the longitudinal APrON Study. Mothers’ ACEs were measured at 12 months postpartum using the ACEs Questionnaire. Mothers reported on proxies of children’s non-psychiatric neurological, respiratory, sensory, digestive, immune, renal, and hematologic (indexed by anemia) conditions experienced between 0-60 months postpartum using a 16-item, yes/no questionnaire. Unadjusted and adjusted regression models examined associations between maternal ACEs and eight child physical health outcomes (seven domains and a total condition count). Maternal ACEs were associated with children’s hematologic conditions in unadjusted (OR = 1·37, 95% CI [1·06, 1·72]) and adjusted (OR=1·45, 95% CI [1·10, 1·86]) analyses. However, the associations were attenuated after correction for multiple testing. In both adjusted and unadjusted analyses, maternal ACEs were not associated with non-psychiatric neurological, respiratory, sensory, digestive, immune, renal and total physical health conditions. Findings contribute preliminary evidence across physical health outcomes and suggest a potential association with children’s hematologic conditions, warranting further investigation. Additionally, they suggest that maternal ACEs may not confer substantial intergenerational risk for a range of physical health outcomes in relatively low-risk populations.