Adverse childhood environment and late-life cognitive functioning

作者：Ritchie Karen^*; Jaussent Isabelle; Stewart Robert; Dupuy Anne Marie; Courtet Philippe; Malafosse Alain; Ancelin Marie Laure

来源：International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2011, 26(5): 503-510.

DOI：10.1002/gps.2553

• elderly
• child abuse
• cognition
• ApoE
• gene-environment interaction

Objective: Clinical studies suggest that childhood maltreatment may cause nervous system changes and consequent cognitive disorder. The persistence of this association in late-life is examined.
Methods: Cognitive functioning and childhood events were examined in 1282 persons over 65 years, taking into account proximal competing causes of poor cognitive performance.
Results: Ninety one per cent experienced at least one adverse childhood event, of these 14.7% severe events. Sharing of parental problems and, for women, loss of a parent were associated with poorer verbal retrieval whereas being sent to a foster home or mistreatment by schoolmates was associated with poorer visuospatial memory. Severe abuse was associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment on some tests suggesting a resilience factor. Positive childhood environment was protective although only for non-carriers of the ApoE epsilon 4 allele on the central executive task.
Conclusions: Some adverse childhood events continue to have a negative effect on later-life cognitive performance, while some more severe acute events may have the opposite effect, underlying the necessity to consider events individually and not as global test scores.

• 出版日期2011-5