Childhood abuse in late-life depression
Dec 3, 2012
Hannie Comijs and colleagues from the Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands has recently had an article accepted for publication on childhood abuse and late-life depression [LINK]
From the article's abstract:
"BACKGROUND: Little is known about the role of childhood abuse in late-life depression. The aim of the study is therefore to study whether childhood abuse is associated with late-life depression according to its onset, and which clinical characteristics play a role in this association.
METHODS: Data were used from 378 depressed and 132 non-depressed persons, aged 60-93 years, from the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older persons (NESDO). Childhood abuse included psychological, physical and sexual abuse and emotional neglect.
RESULTS: 53% of the depressed older adults reported childhood abuse, compared to 16% of the non-depressed older adults (p<0.001). Using logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex and level of education, depression was strongest associated with physical abuse (Odds Ratio ((OR) 13.71; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 3.25-57.91) and least with sexual abuse (OR 5.35; 95% CI 2.36-12.14). Childhood abuse was associated with early-onset (OR 13.73, 95% CI 7.31-25.80), middle age-onset (OR 5.36, 95% CI 2.90-9.90) and late-onset depression (OR 4.74, 95% CI 2.51-8.95). In the late-onset group childhood abuse was associated with an increased number of chronic diseases.
LIMITATIONS: Age of depression onset and childhood abuse were asked retrospectively, which may have biased the results.
CONCLUSIONS: Childhood abuse is strongly related to late-life depression and its comorbidities, even in the case of late-onset depression. This might suggest that psychological wellbeing can be maintained throughout middle age, but may be disturbed in later life."
On my website I have previously reviewed studies examining retrospective vs prospective studies, and the general conclusion is that retrospective studies yield results which can be generally relied on Thus I do not believe that the "limitation" mentioned is in fact one that warrants concern about the thrust of the study's results -- childhood abuse, especially physical abuse, is a significant precursor, and may be a significant contributing factor, to suffering depression in later life, even if one has managed to cope with the effects of such abuse earlier in life Further, and consistent with other studies reviewed on my website, such abuse early in life contributes to not only mental disorders but chronic physical illnesses as well.
A person doesn't just "get over it" if one has been abused early in life, whatever form the abuse took.
Elsewhere on my site I have reviewed (in my research proposal) evidence indicating that the effects of such abuse also significanty affect presentation during dementia.