Telomere length and childhood trauma in Colombians with depressive symptoms

• Main Author: Jiménez,Karen M.
• Publication Date: 2019
• Other Authors: Pereira-Morales,Angela J., Adan,Ana, Forero,Diego A.
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry (São Paulo. 1999. Online)
• Download full: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-44462019000300194
• topic: Childhood trauma; depression; Latin America; sexual abuse; telomere length

Objective: Childhood trauma and telomere length (TL) are important risk factors for major depressive disorder. We examined whether there was an association between childhood trauma and TL in a sample of Colombians who were assessed for depressive symptoms. Methods: We applied the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to 92 Colombian subjects (mean age = 21). TL was measured with quantitative PCR. Spearman’s correlation coefficient (rs) was used to analyze the relationship between childhood trauma scores and TL. Results: We found a significant correlation between TL and sexual abuse scores (rs = 0.428, p = 0.002) in individuals with higher depressive symptom scores. Conclusion: This is the first report of a significant association between TL and sexual abuse in a Latin American sample and provides additional evidence about the role of childhood trauma and TL in neuropsychiatric disorders.