Child Abuse and Risk of Developinging Cancer
Study Finds that Childhood Abuse Elevates Cancer Risk in Adults
Sep 28, 2009
In a 1990-1995 study by the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto entitled “Child Abuse & Subsequent Adult Onset Cancer,” suggests children and adolescents who are physically abused have a greater chance of developing cancer later in life than those who are not abused. The study by researchers at the University of Toronto found childhood physical abuse is associated with a 49 per cent higher chance of developing cancer in adulthood.
In their study, Canadian researchers came to the conclusion that childhood physical abuse is associated with a 49 per cent increased risk of cancer in adulthood. Even after taking into consideration major health risk factors, such as childhood stressors, adult socioeconomic status and adult behaviours including smoking, drinking and lack of physical activity, the relationship between childhood physical abuse and cancer remained significant.
The findings were based on data from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey, focusing on the provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Of the 13,092 respondents who took part in the study, 7.4 per cent reported that they had been physically abused as a child by someone close to them, and 5.7 per cent said that they had been later diagnosed with cancer by a health professional.
Childhood physical abuse was linked to 49 per cent higher chances of the disease. The odds ratio reduced only slightly to 47 per cent higher odds when the numbers were adjusted to account for unhealthy adult behaviours, socioeconomic status, and other stressors during childhood, such as divorce.
However, the researchers emphasized that individuals who were the victims of physical abuse in childhood should not think now that they are going to necessarily develop cancer. Fuller-Thomson stressed out that the findings need to be supported by other larger studies before the scientists could say for sure that child abuse is a risk factor for cancer. She said that more research is needed in order to explain the higher cancer rates that were found in this study, and to better understand what mechanisms might stand behind.
Hormone Cortisol May Play a Role
One theory suggests that ongoing stress raises levels of the "fight or flight" hormone cortisol, which may suppress the immune system's ability to detect and destroy cancer cells. Future studies will examine how the production of cortisol, the stress hormone, affects the cancer-abuse connection.
This research provides important new knowledge about a potential childhood abuse-cancer relationship. The study's findings showed the association between childhood abuse and cancer remained significant even after controlling for three major potentially confounding factors: childhood stressors, adult health behaviours (i.e. smoking, physical inactivity, alcohol consumption) and adult socioeconomic status.
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