ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2025
Association between childhood abuse and risk of post-COVID-19 conditions: Results from three large prospective cohort studies.
Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Efficacy of a psychotherapeutic group intervention for patients with Post-COVID-19 condition: a randomized controlled trial (PsyLoCo study).BMC psychology · 2026Trial
- Association between childhood maltreatment with subthreshold depressive symptoms and major depressive disorder in young and middle-aged adults.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Childhood trauma and mental health outcomes in Post-COVID Syndrome: Results from a cross-sectional study in Germany.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- The Many Faces of Child Abuse: How Clinical, Genetic and Epigenetic Correlates Help Us See the Full Picture.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Impact of Prior History of Traumatic Stress on Autonomic and Multi-System Symptoms Following COVID-19 Infection.Chronic stress (Thousand Oaks, Calif.)Article
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Abstract
backgroundSignificant early life adversities, such as childhood sexual and physical/emotional abuse, are associated with risk of poor health outcomes but are understudied risk factors for post-COVID-19 conditions. In this prospective study, we examined the associations between combined exposure to sexual and physical/emotional abuse during childhood with risk of post-COVID-19 conditions in adulthood. Additionally, we explored the extent to which lifestyle, health-related and psychological factors explain this association.
methodsWe used data from three large, ongoing cohorts: Nurses' Health Study (NHS)-II, NHS3, and the Growing Up Today Study. Between April 2020 and November 2021, participants responded to periodic COVID-19 surveys. Participants were included if they responded to a questionnaire about childhood abuse, subsequently tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection and responded to questions about post-COVID-19 conditions. Childhood sexual abuse was measured before the COVID-19 pandemic with the Sexual Maltreatment Scale of the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale, and physical/emotional abuse was measured with the Physical and Emotional Abuse Subscale of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Post-COVID-19 conditions, defined as COVID-19-related symptoms lasting 4 weeks or longer (e.g., fatigue, dyspnea), were self-reported in the final COVID-19 questionnaire in November 2021. Sexual abuse and physical/emotional abuse were examined separately and jointly in relation to post-COVID-19 conditions. Data on key lifestyle (e.g., cigarette smoking), health-related (e.g., asthma, diabetes), and psychological factors (e.g., depression and anxiety) were obtained.
resultsOf 2851 participants, the mean age (range) was 55.8 (22.0-75.0) years; 2789 (97.8 %) were females, and 2750 (96.5 %) were whites. We observed a dose-dependent relationship between severity of childhood abuse and post-COVID conditions (p-trend:<0.0001); participants with severe versus no childhood abuse had a 42 % higher subsequent risk of post-COVID conditions [relative risk (95 % confidence interval): 1.42 (1.25 to 1.61)]. Key lifestyle, health-related, and psychological factors mediated 25.5 % of this association. Both sexual and physical/emotional abuse, were independently associated with post-COVID conditions.
conclusionsIn this prospective study of 2851 participants, childhood abuse was significantly associated with increased risk of post-COVID conditions. Biological pathways connecting childhood abuse with subsequent risk of post-COVID conditions should be investigated.
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