O impacto na saúde das experiências adversas na infância

• Autor(a) principal: Ana Márcia dos Santos Novais Morgado
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://hdl.handle.net/10216/134353
• topic: Outras ciências médicas; Other medical sciences

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that Adverse Childhood Experiences have considerable negative impact on child development, consequences throughout the lifespan. Some of these consequences are the exacerbation or development of several pathologies and also risk behaviors. Materials and Methods: Convenience sample, by quotas, of 398 individuals aged 20 years or older, from Porto metropolitan area. Evaluation made by anonymous questionnaire that included sociodemographic questions about exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences, list of current health conditions, questions about risk behaviors and the AUDIT-C test, the Fagerström test and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire - brief form. Variables were quantified in order to measure Adverse Childhood Experiences, pathologies and risk behaviors in adult individuals for comparison. Results: Individuals with high partial and total Adverse Childhood Experiences scores have higher: smoking dependence, suicide attempts and/or self-harm behaviors; victimization/aggression of intimate partners; early onset of sexual life; multiple sexual partners; abortions; anxiety; depression; diabetes; arthritis; high cholesterol; hypertension; stroke. Discussion and Conclusions: Results show that individuals how suffered Adverse Childhood Experiences have higher total scores of more risk behaviors and health conditions than individuals without traumatic background. This is relevant for health purposes, and demands further research aiming to promote preventive and protective measures.