Article 6a: The effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences on health: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Hughes, 2017)

Question 1

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s)

Answer 1

Include harms that affect children directly (abuse/neglect) or indirectly through their environment (parental conflict, substance abuse, mental illness).

Question 2

Design of the study

Answer 2

This meta-analysis looked at the effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) on health outcomes regarding:
- Substance use
- Sexual health
- Mental health
- Weigth
- Physical exercise
- Violence behaviour
- Physical health status

Question 3

Main results

Answer 3

• Individuals with AT LEAST 4 ACE’s were at risk for ALL negative health outcomes, compared to individuals with no ACE’s.
• Weak effects: physical inactivity, overweight, obesity, diabetes.
• Moderate effects: smoking, alcohol use, poor self-related health, cancer, heart-disease, respiratory disease.
• Strong effects: sexual risk taking, mental ill health, problematic alcohol use.
• Strongest effects: problematic drug use, mental illness and interpersonal and self-directed violence.

Question 4

The sustainable development goals (SDG’s)

Answer 4

Provide a global platform to reduce ACE’s and their life-course effect on health. The focus should shift to early drivers of poor health and policies that capture environmental and societal causes of adversity in childhood. Countries have committed to action to meet these 17 goals. They focus on early childhood development as a means of securing lifelong health.