Autoimmune Disease Prevalent in Victims of Childhood Trauma, According to Study

Childhood trauma is a condition that can impact people even when they reach adulthood. The negative influences and experiences accumulated during the dark days of a person when they were a child could result in other psychological effects.

The victims of childhood abuse commonly face crippling impacts that disrupt their lifestyles and mental health.

Childhood Trauma and Multiple Sclerosis

A new study examined 78,000 participants that are all women citizens from Norway. Each individual was exposed to various accounts of childhood traumas, including negative experiences such as physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

The findings imply that most childhood trauma cases are likely to result in multiple sclerosis, an immunity-targeting illness present in millions of the global population.

Haukeland University Hospital's Department of Neurology expert and lead author of the study Karine Eid explained that extreme types of stress during childhood include neglect, abuse, and dysfunction in a household.

In previous studies, experts found an association between chronic stress and deficient physical and mental health. Moreover, disease flares were proven to manifest in multiple sclerosis patients through triggers of stressful life events during childhood.

However, the concept of how the traumatic experiences of a person back in their younger years increase the risk of multiple sclerosis in patients remains in question. The resolve to this theory, on the other hand, could help people with the condition and even with other autoimmune diseases be diagnosed accurately and effectively.

A previous study conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2009 revealed that a person's negative exposure during childhood is related to autoimmune disease hospitalization after ten years.

In multiple sclerosis, an individual's immune system violently attacks nerve cells. This destroys myelin layers surrounding each cell, resulting in extreme chronic pain, numbness, muscle spasms, and even loss of vision.

Factors That Increase Risk of Autoimmune Disease

The association between multiple sclerosis and childhood trauma was analyzed via a cross-study over Norwegian pregnant women between 1999 to 2018 and the country's national registry of numerous sclerosis cases.

Among the participants, 300 developed multiple sclerosis. One of four revealed that they had experienced childhood abuse from this group, Science Alert reports.

The connection between childhood trauma and the autoimmune condition is prevalent among women, especially victims of sexual abuse who have an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis at about 65 percent.

Childhood trauma can also result in other chronic health problems like obesity, heart disease, diabetes, depression, and inflammation.

Multiple sclerosis can be induced by other factors that a patient is exposed to. Examples of these causes are air pollution, lack of sunlight, genetics, ultra-processed foods, and viral infections. All of the factors put an individual at risk and are most critical during younger age.

Eid explained that the most consistent environmental factors at play to raise the risks of the autoimmune condition include Epstein-Barr virus infection, lack of vitamin D, and early obesity.

The study was published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, titled "Association of adverse childhood experiences with the development of multiple sclerosis."

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