Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, UK.
BMC Psychiatry. 2021 May 11;21(1):248. doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03207-0.
The association between sexual and physical abuse and subsequent depression is well-established, but the associations with specific depressive symptoms and sex differences remain relatively understudied. We investigated the associations of sexual and physical abuse with depressive symptoms in men and women in a large population cohort.
Observational study based on 151,396 UK Biobank participants. Exposures included self-reported experiences of childhood physical abuse and sexual abuse. Mid-life outcomes included current depressive symptoms score, individual depressive symptoms, and lifetime depression. We used logistic regression to test associations of childhood sexual/physical abuse with depressive outcomes.
Recalled childhood sexual and physical abuse were both associated with current depressive symptoms score in adults. Results for individual symptoms-based analyses suggest that sexual and physical abuse are associated with all depressive symptoms, particularly suicidal behaviours. The associations between lifetime depression and sexual/physical abuse were not fully explained by current depressive symptoms score, indicating that these findings may not be fully attributable to recall bias. There was no indication of differential risk for specific depressive symptoms among men and women.
Sexual and physical abuse are robust risk factors for depression/depressive symptoms regardless of sex. Higher risk of suicidal behaviours associated with childhood sexual/physical abuse are of particular concern. Longitudinal research into sex-specific associations for individual depressive symptoms is required.
性虐待和身体虐待与随后的抑郁之间存在关联，这已得到充分证实，但与特定抑郁症状和性别差异的关联仍相对研究不足。我们在一个大型人群队列中研究了性虐待和身体虐待与男性和女性抑郁症状之间的关联。
基于 151396 名英国生物库参与者的观察性研究。暴露因素包括自我报告的儿童期身体虐待和性虐待经历。中年结局包括当前抑郁症状评分、个体抑郁症状和终生抑郁。我们使用逻辑回归来检验儿童期性/身体虐待与抑郁结局的关联。
回忆起的儿童期性虐待和身体虐待均与成年人的当前抑郁症状评分相关。基于个体症状的分析结果表明，性虐待和身体虐待与所有抑郁症状相关，特别是自杀行为。终生抑郁与性/身体虐待之间的关联不能完全用当前抑郁症状评分来解释，这表明这些发现可能不完全归因于回忆偏差。性虐待和身体虐待与特定抑郁症状之间没有明显的性别差异风险。
性虐待和身体虐待是抑郁/抑郁症状的强有力风险因素，与性别无关。与儿童期性/身体虐待相关的自杀行为风险增加尤其令人担忧。需要对个体抑郁症状的性别特异性关联进行纵向研究。
