SynthesisMolecular psychiatry2016
Childhood trauma and adulthood inflammation: a meta-analysis of peripheral C-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-α.
Synthesis in Molecular psychiatry, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 555 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
555 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,049 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dimensions of early life adversity and cardiometabolic health in adulthood: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2026Pooled it
- Metabolic markers in bipolar disorder with childhood trauma exposure: a systematic review.CNS spectrums · 2026Pooled it
- Multi-epigenome-wide analyses and meta-analysis of child maltreatment in judicial autopsies and intervened children and adolescents.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Global landscape, research hotspots, and evolutionary trends in childhood adversity and chronic disease research: a bibliometric analysis based on three databases.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- The genetic landscape of neuro-related proteins in human plasma.Nature human behaviour · 2024Pooled it
- Adverse childhood events and mental health problems in cancer survivors: a systematic review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Pooled it
- Proteomic insights into childhood adversity: Exploring biological mechanisms and cognitive outcomes in the CARDIA study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Relationship of immune-inflammatory pathway and stress-induced depression with neural regeneration.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- Immune senescence and exhaustion in breast cancer patients with a history of childhood maltreatment.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Dimensions of early life adversity and accelerated biological aging in adolescents: an examination of fear-related mechanisms.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2026Article
- Childhood maltreatment and adult blood pressure-based outcomes: age- and sex-specific associations in the German National Cohort (NAKO).BMC public health · 2026Article
- Impact of early life stress on the immune response and bone regeneration after fracture.Bone reports · 2026Article
- Early-life adversity before age 5 is associated with reduced cardiometabolic health characterized by increased arterial stiffness and inflammation in adolescence.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2026Article
- Inflammatory diet mediates the relationship between early life stress and inflammation in adolescents.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2026Article
- Preventive Effects ofFood science & nutrition · 2026Article
- Long-term molecular embedding of early life adversity: leukocyte DNA methylation and gene expression associations from childhood to young adulthood.Epigenomics · 2026Article
- Emerging Perspectives on Adverse Childhood Experiences and Brain Cancer Immunotherapy.Cancers · 2026Article
- Associations Between Childhood Adversity and Pain in Breast Cancer Survivors.Biopsychosocial science and medicine · 2026Article
- Age-related moderation of adjunctive psychotherapy and early life stress effects on depression symptom reductions following ketamine treatment: Initial insights from a large, naturalistic sample.Journal of affective disorders · 2026Article
- The role of proinflammatory response and the kynurenine pathway in the association between childhood maltreatment and lifetime substance use disorder.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
495 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Childhood trauma confers higher risk of adulthood physical and mental illness; however, the biological mechanism mediating this association remains largely unknown. Recent research has suggested dysregulation of the immune system as a possible biological mediator. The present paper conducted a meta-analysis to establish whether early-life adversity contributes to potentially pathogenic pro-inflammatory phenotypes in adult individuals. A systematic search of Pubmed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, Scopus and Medline identified 25 articles for the meta-analysis, including 18 studies encompassing a sample of 16 870 individuals for C-reactive protein (CRP), 15 studies including 3751 individuals for interleukin-6 (IL-6) and 10 studies including 881 individuals for tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Random-effects meta-analysis showed that individuals exposed to childhood trauma had significantly elevated baseline peripheral levels of CRP (Fisher's z=0.10, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.05-0.14), IL-6 (z=0.08, 95% CI=0.03-0.14) and TNF-α (z=0.23, 95% CI=0.14-0.32). Subgroup analyses for specific types of trauma (sexual, physical or emotional abuse) revealed that these impact differentially the single inflammatory markers. Moreover, meta-regression revealed greater effect sizes in clinical samples for the association between childhood trauma and CRP but not for IL-6 or TNF-α. Age, body mass index (BMI) and gender had no moderating effects. The analysis demonstrates that childhood trauma contributes to a pro-inflammatory state in adulthood, with specific inflammatory profiles depending on the specific type of trauma.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.