TY - JOUR
T1 - Epigenetic Age Acceleration and Risk for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder following Exposure to Substantiated Child Maltreatment
AU - Shenk, Chad E.
AU - O’Donnell, Kieran J.
AU - Pokhvisneva, Irina
AU - Kobor, Michael S.
AU - Meaney, Michael J.
AU - Bensman, Heather E.
AU - Allen, Elizabeth K.
AU - Olson, Anneke E.
N1 - Funding Information:
Research reported in this manuscript was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers KL2TR000078, R01AG059682, and P50HD089922. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Society of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Objective: Child maltreatment is among the strongest predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, less than 40% of children who have been maltreated are ever diagnosed with PTSD, suggesting that exposure to child maltreatment alone is insufficient to explain this risk. This study examined whether epigenetic age acceleration, a stress-sensitive biomarker derived from DNA methylation, explains variation in PTSD diagnostic status subsequent to child maltreatment. Method: Children and adolescents (N = 70; 65.7% female), 8–15 years of age (M = 12.00, SD = 2.37) and exposed to substantiated child maltreatment within the 12 months prior to study entry, were enrolled. Participants provided epithelial cheek cells via buccal swab for genotyping and quantification of epigenetic age acceleration within a case-control design. PTSD diagnostic status was determined using the Child PTSD Symptoms Scale according to the DSM-IV-TR algorithm. Results: Epigenetic age acceleration predicted current PTSD status, revealing an effect size magnitude in the moderate range, OR = 2.35, 95% CI: 1.22– 4.51, after adjusting for sample demographics, polygenic risk for PTSD, and lifetime exposure to other childhood adversities. Supplemental analyses demonstrated that epigenetic age acceleration was related to a greater severity of PTSD arousal symptoms (r =.29, p =.015). There were no differential effects for child maltreatment subtype on epigenetic age acceleration or PTSD status. Conclusions: The biological embedding of child maltreatment may explain variation in PTSD diagnostic status and serve as a novel approach for informing selective prevention or precision-based therapeutics for those at risk for PTSD.
AB - Objective: Child maltreatment is among the strongest predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, less than 40% of children who have been maltreated are ever diagnosed with PTSD, suggesting that exposure to child maltreatment alone is insufficient to explain this risk. This study examined whether epigenetic age acceleration, a stress-sensitive biomarker derived from DNA methylation, explains variation in PTSD diagnostic status subsequent to child maltreatment. Method: Children and adolescents (N = 70; 65.7% female), 8–15 years of age (M = 12.00, SD = 2.37) and exposed to substantiated child maltreatment within the 12 months prior to study entry, were enrolled. Participants provided epithelial cheek cells via buccal swab for genotyping and quantification of epigenetic age acceleration within a case-control design. PTSD diagnostic status was determined using the Child PTSD Symptoms Scale according to the DSM-IV-TR algorithm. Results: Epigenetic age acceleration predicted current PTSD status, revealing an effect size magnitude in the moderate range, OR = 2.35, 95% CI: 1.22– 4.51, after adjusting for sample demographics, polygenic risk for PTSD, and lifetime exposure to other childhood adversities. Supplemental analyses demonstrated that epigenetic age acceleration was related to a greater severity of PTSD arousal symptoms (r =.29, p =.015). There were no differential effects for child maltreatment subtype on epigenetic age acceleration or PTSD status. Conclusions: The biological embedding of child maltreatment may explain variation in PTSD diagnostic status and serve as a novel approach for informing selective prevention or precision-based therapeutics for those at risk for PTSD.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099738903&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85099738903&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/15374416.2020.1864738
DO - 10.1080/15374416.2020.1864738
M3 - Article
C2 - 33471576
AN - SCOPUS:85099738903
JO - Journal of clinical child psychology
JF - Journal of clinical child psychology
SN - 1537-4416
ER -