Health outcomes of adversity in early life

In this Perspective, Minnis and co-authors propose a new framework, the bio-exposome, to integrate the multiple aspects of biological and exposome factors associated with childhood adversity that interact and influence outcomes for individuals across their lifespan.

Pradella et al. study the long-term cognitive impacts of drought exposure during pregnancy and the first years of life using data on two million 11–16-year-olds in rural India. While early-life droughts are associated with worse test performance, prenatal drought exposure mitigates the negative effects of postnatal drought.

Gestational choline supplementation shows that glutamate and MIF signaling pathways regulate granule neuron development, leading to improved emotional-like behaviors in the offspring

Taeubert et al. examine the interaction between the prenatal environment, genetic predisposition to birth weight, and adult metabolic risk factors in the context of the Dutch Famine. Famine exposure later in pregnancy restricts genetic influences on birth weight and this effect is linked to higher glucose levels and adiposity in adulthood.

Structural mapping of the female genital representation in somatosensory cortex reveals experience-dependent plasticity and associations with childhood sexual abuse, and adult sexual behavior.

Esser et al. conducted a nationwide survey of 201 health and social care professionals in Germany on the mental health care of asylum-seeking and refugee minors. Results show that mental health problems are frequent but rarely followed up with major barriers due to limited screening, communication difficulties, and insufficient care structures.

Anneberg et al. investigate associations between data-driven maternal dietary patterns during pregnancy and offspring’s risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Based on 56,097 mother-child pairs followed over 18 years, they show that a diverse dietary pattern may protect offspring against IBD development compared to a Western dietary pattern.

Back brushing reverses the negative impact of early tail pinching on anxiety and social behaviors in mandarin voles by restoring oxytocin neuron activity in the PVN and dopamine release in the NAc

Socioeconomic status influences cortical heritability. In > 9000 US 10-year-olds, cortical features were highly heritable overall, yet among lower-SES children differences were less genetic and more tied to unique environmental experiences.

Goldman-Pham et al. introduce a quantitative index of early-life growth adversity to investigate the developmental origins of longevity and improve health throughout the life course. Findings in multiple cohorts show that the precision index is associated with targetable adverse early-life growth conditions and are linked to later-life mortality.

In more than 10,000 U.S. youth aged 10–15, early-life adversity was observed to intensify the coupling between waist-to-height ratio and internalizing problems, while protective family and community environments mitigated this effect.

Uwizeye et al. examine the association between epigenetic age and prenatal exposure to maternal stress related to genocide and genocidal rape. Findings reveal prenatal exposure to this type of maternal stress accelerates epigenetic aging and suggest that third and fourth-generation clocks more accurately capture these relationships.

Rocca et al. examine the effect of early-life adverse experiences, including early adulthood, on late-life morbidity using a cohort study in the US. The authors show that both adverse childhood experiences and abuse in childhood or early adulthood are associated with an accelerated accumulation of morbidity later in life.

Shimizu et al. investigate whether early-life human defensin 5 (HD5), a host innate immunity factor, influences Bifidobacterium colonization in infant gut and modulates microbiota development in later life. HD5-associated colonization during weaning contributes to the long-term establishment of a beneficial microbiota.

Wu et al. investigate the association between flooding exposure and incident dementia using conditional logistic regression models. Flooding exposure is linked to an elevated risk of incident dementia, with significant variations observed across age groups and between sexes.

“Parsing heterogeneity in the developmental timing of adversity exposure and neural discrimination between threat and safety yields distinct profiles that provide insight into individual variation in risk for and resilience against anxiety.

Childhood maltreatment interacts with genes to increase depression risk. Here, Sun et al. use a genome-wide approach to identify variants of IDO2 associated with depression in individuals who have undergone child maltreatment.

Using a machine learning approach to improve risk estimates across heterogeneous samples, the authors demonstrate patterns of increased transdiagnostic symptom risk in children who have experienced caregiving-related early adversities.

Using epigenome-wide mediation analyses to investigate DNA methylation as a path between adversity and depression, the authors found 31 cytosine–guanine dinucleotides (CpGs) associated with risk and 39 CpGs associated with protective effects.

Floods are becoming more frequent and severe, with major impacts on human health. Here, authors show increased risks of infant mortality associated with flood exposure, and the risks remain elevated for up to four years after the flood event.

Cross-cultural evidence indicates an association between higher recalled parent-child relationship quality and adult flourishing as well as current mental health. Relationship quality was higher with reports of greater parental religiosity

Across the first 7 years of life, greater exposure to stressful events predicted higher internalizing and externalizing symptoms for children. This pattern varied with sex. Higher family resilience in terms of commitment, ability to face challenges, and control provided some protection.

Cheung, Zhang et al. examine the association between secondhand smoke exposure and changes in the retinal vasculature among children aged 6 to 8, in a population-based cohort study. Children exposed to secondhand smoke have wider retinal arteriolar and venular calibers compared to those in smoke-free homes.

A composite exposome score was associated with 31 serum metabolites measured by LC-MS and NMR in children followed to adolescence. Altogether, 12 of these associations were unique to the exposome score, with several findings modified by adiposity.

Summan et al. estimate changes in anthropometric outcomes in Indian children during the COVID-19 pandemic. They find short-term increased adverse growth events such as stunting and lower weight with trends towards recovery in 2021.

Wade and colleagues analyze data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project to examine whether stress reactivity measured at age 12 may serve as a mechanism linking early institutional deprivation with psychopathology at age 16.