University of Pittsburgh, USA.
University of Pittsburgh, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2024 Jul;165:107039. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2024.107039. Epub 2024 Apr 4.
Childhood trauma may contribute to poor lifelong health in part through programming of the HPA-axis response to future life stressors. To date, empirical evidence shows an association of childhood trauma with dysregulation of the HPA-axis and blunted cortisol reactivity to acute stressors. Here, we conduct an initial examination of childhood trauma as a moderator of changes over time in perceived stress levels and HPA-axis response to a major chronic stressor in adulthood.
Participants were 83 maternal caregivers of children newly diagnosed with cancer who completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and who, over the year following their child's cancer diagnosis, had hair samples collected up to 7 times for the assessment of cortisol and completed monthly measures of perceived stress.
CTQ scores were in the expected range for a community sample and associated with changes in perceived stress and cortisol concentration over time (γ =.003, p =.002; γ = -.0004, p =.008, respectively) independently of age, education, treatment intensity and randomization to stress management intervention. Maternal caregivers who endorsed lower childhood trauma showed a steeper decline in perceived stress and a larger increase in cortisol levels across the year than caregivers who recalled more childhood trauma.
Findings extend animal models and studies that examine cortisol reactivity to acute stressors and suggest that childhood trauma may program a phenotype that is more psychologically reactive but shows a blunted HPA-axis response to chronic stress. While adaptive in the short-term, this early life programming may incur long-term costs for health. Further work is warranted to examine this possibility.
童年创伤可能通过对 HPA 轴对未来生活应激源的反应进行编程，从而导致终生健康状况不佳。迄今为止，实证证据表明，童年创伤与 HPA 轴失调以及皮质醇对急性应激源的反应迟钝有关。在这里，我们首次研究了童年创伤作为调节因素，研究了成年后感知压力水平的变化和 HPA 轴对主要慢性应激源的反应。
83 名儿童新诊断为癌症的母亲照顾者完成了童年创伤问卷（CTQ），并且在孩子癌症诊断后的一年中，他们的头发样本最多采集了 7 次以评估皮质醇，并且每月完成感知压力的测量。
CTQ 分数在社区样本的预期范围内，与感知压力和皮质醇浓度随时间的变化有关（γ =.003，p =.002；γ= -.0004，p =.008），与年龄、教育、治疗强度和随机分组至应激管理干预无关。报告童年创伤较低的母亲照顾者在一年内的感知压力下降幅度更大，皮质醇水平升高幅度更大，而回忆起更多童年创伤的照顾者则不然。
研究结果扩展了动物模型和研究，这些模型和研究检验了皮质醇对急性应激源的反应性，并表明童年创伤可能编程出一种对心理反应更敏感但对慢性应激反应迟钝的表型。虽然在短期内是适应性的，但这种早期生活编程可能会对健康造成长期代价。需要进一步的工作来研究这种可能性。
