New study links childhood trauma to COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations-Xinhua

A senior citizen walks with a child on a bicycle in Main Street Park near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, the United States, on April 27, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

Although age, gender, ethnicity, health and socio-demographic factors have been associated with such outcomes during the pandemic, this was the first study to find a link between these COVID-19 outcomes and neglect and abuse in children.

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) — People who suffered adversities such as abuse or neglect in childhood were more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19 in adulthood, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh.

Higher self-reported childhood adversities were associated with 12 to 25 percent higher odds of hospitalization and death from COVID-19, according to the study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Although age, gender, ethnicity, health and socio-demographic factors have been associated with such outcomes during the pandemic, this was the first study to find a link between these COVID-19 outcomes and neglect and abuse in children.

“These findings highlight how trauma early in life can have long-lasting health consequences decades later,” said Jamie L. Hanson, a researcher at the Learning Research and Development Center and assistant professor of psychology at the university.

“We may need targeted interventions for individuals and certain communities affected by childhood adversity to reduce the lasting impact of the pandemic,” Hanson said. ■