{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,27]],"date-time":"2026-08-27T18:47:14Z","timestamp":1787856434557,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"Royal College of Psychiatrists","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,22]],"date-time":"2023-03-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1679443200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/terms"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100008175","name":"Glasgow Children's Hospital Charity","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["GCHC\/SPG\/2021\/05"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GCHC\/SPG\/2021\/05"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100008175","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Br J Psychiatry"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"S0007125023000338_sec_a1\"><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>There is evidence that child maltreatment is associated with shorter telomere length in early life.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"S0007125023000338_sec_a2\"><jats:title>Aims<\/jats:title><jats:p>This study aims to examine if child maltreatment is associated with telomere length in middle- and older-age adults.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"S0007125023000338_sec_a3\" sec-type=\"methods\"><jats:title>Method<\/jats:title><jats:p>This was a retrospective cohort study of 141 748 UK Biobank participants aged 37\u201373 years at recruitment. Leukocyte telomere length was measured with quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and log-transformed and scaled to have unit standard deviation. Child maltreatment was recalled by participants. Linear regression was used to analyse the association.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"S0007125023000338_sec_a4\" sec-type=\"results\"><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, participants with three or more types of maltreatment presented with the shortest telomere lengths (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic> = \u22120.05, 95% CI \u22120.07 to \u22120.03; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &lt; 0.0001), followed by those with two types of maltreatment (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic> = \u22120.02, 95% CI \u22120.04 to 0.00; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.02), referent to those who had none. When adjusted for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, the telomere lengths of participants with three or more types of maltreatment were still shorter (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic> = \u22120.04, 95% CI \u22120.07 to \u22120.02; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.0008). The telomere lengths of those with one type of maltreatment were not significantly different from those who had none. When mutually adjusted, physical abuse (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic> = \u22120.05, 95% CI \u22120.07 to \u22120.03; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &lt; 0.0001) and sexual abuse (<jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic> = \u22120.02, 95% CI \u22120.04 to 0.00; <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.02) were independently associated with shorter telomere length.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec id=\"S0007125023000338_sec_a5\" sec-type=\"conclusions\"><jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title><jats:p>Our findings showed that child maltreatment is associated with shorter telomere length in middle- and older-aged adults, independent of sociodemographic and mental health factors.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.2023.33","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,22]],"date-time":"2023-03-22T07:47:57Z","timestamp":1679471277000},"page":"377-381","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Child maltreatment and telomere length in middle and older age: retrospective cohort study of 141 748 UK Biobank participants"],"prefix":"10.1192","volume":"223","author":[{"given":"Ziyi","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Camilla K. 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