[Progress in research of association of adverse childhood experiences with prevalence of common chronic diseases in adulthood].

The effects of adverse childhood experiences on adult health has aroused increasing concern in the world in recent years, but limited studies have been conducted in China. This study synthesized the measurement of adverse childhood experiences, the association between adverse childhood experiences and the prevalence common chronic diseases in adulthood and possible mechanisms. It was found that though measurement range of adverse childhood experiences might be different among studies, current used measurement scales basically met the requirement of disease prevention. Most categories of adverse childhood experiences were positively related to risk of common chronic diseases, and the relationship was influenced by social economic status, sex and age. However, people with exposure to famine in childhood had lower prevalence of hypertension compared with those without the exposure. The possible mechanisms might be that the occurrence of adverse childhood experiences might damage physiological functions or increase the adoption of poor healthy behaviors and lifestyles, and finally increased the risk of chronic diseases directly or indirectly. While premature death due to adverse childhood experiences might reverse the association because of nonrandom selection. It is necessary for us to select appropriate indexes of adverse childhood experiences and conduct more studies to prove the association between adverse childhood experiences and prevalence of common chronic diseases in adulthood and explore the related mechanism for the better prevention of chronic diseases in China.