Childhood maltreatment associated with psychological stress in head and neck cancer patients: a cross-sectional study

High psychological stress has been widely reported among patients with head and neck cancer (HNC); however, its association with early life predictors remains underexplored. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of childhood trauma and its association with perceived psychological stress in patients diagnosed with HNC. A total of 150 patients were assessed after cancer diagnosis and before treatment initiation. Demographic and clinicopathological data were obtained from medical records. Perceived psychological stress was measured by the reduced 10-item perceived stress scale (PSS-10). Overall occurrence of childhood trauma and its subtypes were assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Most participants were male (78.7%), middle-aged (56.0%), married (58.7%), and had an elementary level of education (47.3%). Overall, 133 patients (88.7%) reported the occurrence of at least one type of childhood trauma, Physical abuse was the most reported childhood trauma subtype by the HNSCC patients (76.7%), followed by emotional neglect (56%), physical neglect (41.3%), emotional abuse (24.7%) and sexual abuse (3.3%). When perceived psychological stress levels were categorized into quartiles and adjusted for clinicopathological and biobehavioral variables, childhood physical neglect was significantly associated with higher psychological stress levels (OR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.012–1.39; p = 0.034). The occurrence of childhood emotional abuse was associated with lower perceived stress levels (OR = 0.82; 95% CI: 0.692–0.99; p = 0.043). These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that diferente types of childhood maltreatment can modulate psychological stress levels in patients with head neck cancer. Screening and clinical management strategies aimed at reducing psychological stress in this population should consider the potential impact of adverse childhood experiences.