Chan, Ko Ling

Chung, Rachel S.Y.

Ho, Frederick K.

Ip, Patrick

Lo, Camilla K.M.

Minnis, Helen

Pell, Jill P.

Shiels, Paul G.

Zhou, Ziyi

Background:

There is evidence that child maltreatment is associated with shorter telomere length in early life.



Aims:

This study aims to examine if child maltreatment is associated with telomere length in middle- and older-age adults.



Method:

This was a retrospective cohort study of 141 748 UK Biobank participants aged 37–73 years at recruitment. Leukocyte telomere length was measured with quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and log-transformed and scaled to have unit standard deviation. Child maltreatment was recalled by participants. Linear regression was used to analyse the association.



Results:

After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, participants with three or more types of maltreatment presented with the shortest telomere lengths (β = −0.05, 95% CI −0.07 to −0.03; P &lt; 0.0001), followed by those with two types of maltreatment (β = −0.02, 95% CI −0.04 to 0.00; P = 0.02), referent to those who had none. When adjusted for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, the telomere lengths of participants with three or more types of maltreatment were still shorter (β = −0.04, 95% CI −0.07 to −0.02; P = 0.0008). The telomere lengths of those with one type of maltreatment were not significantly different from those who had none. When mutually adjusted, physical abuse (β = −0.05, 95% CI −0.07 to −0.03; P &lt; 0.0001) and sexual abuse (β = −0.02, 95% CI −0.04 to 0.00; P = 0.02) were independently associated with shorter telomere length.



Conclusions:

Our findings showed that child maltreatment is associated with shorter telomere length in middle- and older-aged adults, independent of sociodemographic and mental health factors

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Child maltreatment and telomere length in middle and older age: retrospective cohort study of 141 748 UK Biobank participants

Child maltreatment and telomere length in middle and older age: a retrospective cohort study of 141,748 participants in UK Biobank

Child maltreatment and telomere length in middle and older age: a retrospective cohort study of 141,748 participants in UK Biobank

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