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Adverse childhood experiences and psychological functioning among women with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder: population-based study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2023

Ole Köhler-Forsberg*
Affiliation:
Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital – Psychiatry, Denmark; and Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark
Fenfen Ge
Affiliation:
Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland
Arna Hauksdóttir
Affiliation:
Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland
Edda Bjork Thordardottir
Affiliation:
Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland; and Mental Health Services, Landspitali, The National University Hospital of Iceland, Iceland
Kristjana Ásbjörnsdóttir
Affiliation:
Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland
Harpa Rúnarsdóttir
Affiliation:
Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland
Gunnar Tómasson
Affiliation:
Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland
Jóhanna Jakobsdóttir
Affiliation:
Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland
Berglind Guðmundsdóttir
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland; and Mental Health Services, Landspitali, The National University Hospital of Iceland, Iceland
Andri Steinþór Björnsson
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology, University of Iceland, Iceland
Engilbert Sigurðsson
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland
Thor Aspelund
Affiliation:
Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland
Unnur A. Valdimarsdottir
Affiliation:
Centre of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Iceland; Unit of Integrative Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Sweden; and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA
*
Correspondence: Ole Köhler-Forsberg. Email: olekoehler@clin.au.dk
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Abstract

Background

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are well-known risk factors for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Aims

The aim was to study the associations between specific ACEs and psychological functioning in women with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Method

Among 29 367 women (mean age 44 years) from the Icelandic Stress-And-Gene-Analysis (SAGA) study, 534 (1.8%, mean age 40) reported having been diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, which were combined to ‘severe mental disorders’. Participants reported on 13 types of ACEs, childhood deprivation and psychological functioning (defined as coping ability and current symptoms of depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances). Adjusted Poisson regression calculated prevalence ratios (PRs) between ACEs and severe mental disorders. Linear regression assessed the association between ACEs and psychological functioning among women with a severe mental disorder.

Results

Women with a severe mental disorder reported more ACEs (mean 4.57, s.d. = 2.82) than women without (mean 2.51, s.d. = 2.34) in a dose-dependent manner (fully-adjusted PR = 1.23 per ACE, 95% CI 1.20–1.27). After mutual adjustment for other ACEs, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, mental illness of a household member, emotional neglect, bullying and collective violence were associated with severe mental disorders. Among women with severe mental disorders, a higher number of ACEs was associated with increased symptom burden of depression (β = 2.79, 95% CI = 1.19–4.38) and anxiety (β = 2.04, 95% CI = 0.99–3.09) including poorer sleep quality (β = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.07–1.59). Findings were similar for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder separately.

Conclusion

Women with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder show a strong history of ACEs, which may interfere with their psychological functioning and, therefore, need to be addressed as part of their treatment, for example, with trauma-focused psychotherapy.

Information

Type
Original Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Figure 0

Fig. 1 The flow chart of study population. ACE-IQ, Adverse Childhood Experience International Questionnaire; SAGA, Stress-And-Gene-Analysis.

Figure 1

Table 1 Characteristics of study population

Figure 2

Fig. 2 Associations between the types of adverse childhood experience (ACEs) and the prevalence of severe mental disorder. ‘case’ refers to women with a severe mental disorder. aAdjusted for age, highest education, civil status, current personal monthly income, smoking status and body mass index. bAdditionally adjusted for other types of ACEs. PR = prevalence ratio.

Figure 3

Table 2 Linear regression to assess the association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and psychological functioning among women with a severe mental disorder (n = 534)

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