By Abigail E Russell, Jon Heron, David Gunnell, et al., Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, September 4, 2019
Background
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as physical and emotional abuse are strongly associated with self‐harm, but mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. Inflammation has been linked to both the experience of ACEs and self‐harm or suicide in prior research. This is the first study to examine whether inflammatory markers mediate the association between exposure to ACEs and self‐harm.
Methods
Participants were 4,308 young people from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a population‐based birth cohort in the United Kingdom. A structural equation modelling approach was used to fit a mediation model with the number of ACEs experienced between ages 0 and 9 years old (yo), levels of the inflammatory markers interleukin‐6 and C‐reactive protein measured at 9.5 yo, and self‐harm reported at 16 yo.
Results
The mean number of ACEs young people experienced was 1.41 (SE 0.03). Higher ACE scores were associated with an increased risk of self‐harm at 16 yo (direct effect relative risk (RR) per additional ACE 1.11, 95% CI 1.05, 1.18, p < 0.001). We did not find evidence of an indirect effect of ACEs on self‐harm via inflammation (RR 1.00, 95% CI 1.00, 1.01, p = 0.38).
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