Victims Lose Two Years....

According to a recent University of Georgia study, child maltreatment is associated with a decrease in the quality of life, even decades after the abuse and neglect occur.

This study finds that, on average, victims lose at least two years.

UGA College of Public Health associate professor Phaedra Corso and her colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed surveys of more than 6,000 people to assess the deficits in quality of life that victims suffer. (Their results appear

in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.) Specifically, Corso found significant differences in health-related issues between people who were maltreated as children and those who were not; this finding held among all age groups.

Childhood maltreatment-which includes physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect-has been linked to an increased risk for ailments ranging from heart disease, obesity, and diabetes to depression and anxiety. Corso pointed out two reasons why.

First, she believes the mistreatment of children increases their likelihood of unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, substance abuse, and sexual promiscuity.

Further, recent studies also suggest that repeated exposure to the stress caused by the child abuse alters brain circuits and hormonal systems, which puts victims at greater risk of chronic health problems later in life.

These UGA researchers found that 46 percent of the 6,000+ survey participants reported some form of maltreatment during childhood. Of those:

• 26 percent reported physical abuse;

• 21 percent reported sexual abuse;

• 10 percent reported emotional abuse;

• 14 percent reported emotional neglect; and

• 9 percent reported physical neglect.

To evaluate "quality of life", the team matched responses to a survey that assessed physical and cognitive functioning, pain, and social support with data from surveys that explicitly asked people how many years of life they would trade to be free of a given health condition. The result is a score that ranged from 0 to 1, with 0 being equivalent to death and 1 being perfect health. The average score for people who were not abused or neglected was .78, while the score for those who were was .75 - a difference of .03 per year. Throughout a lifetime, this figure translates to a loss of two years.

Corso cautions that the two-year reduction in quality of life undoubtedly underestimates the true impact of childhood maltreatment. The trauma these children experience as the abuse is occurring could never be totally accounted for through adult surveys. Regardless, she said her team's study does highlight the long-term damage associated with child maltreatment... and helps make the case for funding prevention efforts. "A lot of the time people don't consider violence as a public health issue," Corso said, "but there's a body of evidence that exists now that shows long-term health impacts of childhood maltreatment."

According to Ileana Arias, director of CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, "The long-term consequences of child maltreatment are very real and concerning. All children should have safe, stable and nurturing environments in which to grow and develop. For children and adults to live to their full potential, we must support programs that stop child maltreatment before it ever begins and work to help those who have already experienced it."

University of Georgia's Office of Public Affairs News Service

Article by Sam Fahmy, May 28, 2008.

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