SynthesisEuropean child & adolescent psychiatry2020
Adverse childhood experiences, epigenetics and telomere length variation in childhood and beyond: a systematic review of the literature.
Synthesis in European child & adolescent psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 5 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
49 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Are pregnancy and parity associated with telomere length? A systematic review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Pooled it
- The effect of adverse childhood experiences on chronic pain and major depression in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis.British journal of anaesthesia · 2023Pooled it
- Association between Childhood Exposure to Family Violence and Telomere Length: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Biological aging in childhood and adolescence following experiences of threat and deprivation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychological bulletin · 2020Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Bullying as an Adverse Childhood Experience?-State of the Art.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Families Implementing Resilient Systems Together (FIRST).Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The long-term impact of adverse childhood experiences on externalizing aggressiveness: sensitive periods during childhood and adolescence.Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Association of childhood adversity and depression with cardiovascular health in youth with perinatal HIV 1 in Uganda.Discover public health · 2026Article
- Discriminating childhood traumatic experiences by molecular profiles: the case of neglect and sexual abuse.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Life-course socio-economic factors associated with frailty in later life.The Journal of frailty & aging · 2025Article
- From childhood shadows to adult aches: a prospective cohort study on adverse childhood experiences, depressive symptoms, and incident arthritis in middle-aged and older Chinese adults.European journal of medical research · 2025Article
- Developmental cascades from early childhood attachment security to adolescent level of personality functioning among high-risk youth.Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- The Intersection of Neighborhood Environments, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Health Equity.Pediatrics · 2025Article
- The role of optimism, connectedness, and neighborhood collective efficacy as moderators of harsh parenting on telomere length.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Childhood Adversity and Telomere Length.Biological research for nursing · 2025Article
- Article
- Understanding the Influence of Early-Life Stressors on Social Interaction, Telomere Length, and Hair Cortisol Concentration in Homeless Kittens.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Article
- General Practitioners perspectives on infant telomere length screening after a pregnancy complication: a qualitative analysis.Family practice · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted to answer the question: What epigenetic, telomeric and associated biological changes are associated with exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the under 12s? Using PRISMA guidelines, appropriate databases were searched. 190 papers were returned with 38 articles fully reviewed. Articles were each independently quality rated by two authors using the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool and data were extracted. Of the 38 articles, 23 were rated as very high quality. Most study participants were adults (n = 7769) with n = 727 child participants. Only seven of the very/high-quality studies were prospective and involved children. Methylation was the most studied method of epigenetic modification. There is some evidence supporting epigenetic modification of certain markers in participants exposed to ACEs measured in adulthood. Research is lacking on non-coding aspects of the epigenome and on coding aspects other than DNA methylation. There is some evidence of a more powerful effect on telomere length if physical neglect was involved. Much further work is required to model biological and psychological effects of epigenetic changes during childhood using prospective study designs. The effect of ACEs on the cellular ageing process during childhood is inadequately investigated and relies solely on measure of telomere length. Future research suggestions are proposed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
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.