Sponsor
This work was supported by Friends for a Healthy Uganda and US National Institutes of Health (NIH) [R01MH113494 and R01MH125667]. AWK is supported by a US National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Fogarty International Center and National Institute of Mental Health [NIH D43TW010543]. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Published In
Journal of Global Health
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2021
Subjects
Medication adherence -- Studies, Cardiopulmonary fitness -- Measurement
Abstract
Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) pose a major threat to public health in sub-Saharan African communities, where the burden of these classes of illnesses is expected to double by 2030. Growing research suggests that past developmental experiences and early life conditions may also elevate CVD risk throughout the life course. Greater childhood stress and adversity are consistently associated with a range of adult CVDs and associated risk factors, yet little research exists on the long-term effects of early life stress on adult physical health outcomes, especially CVD risk, in sub-Saharan African contexts. This study aims to evaluate the associations between adverse childhood experiences and adult cardiometabolic risk factors and health outcomes in a population-based study of adults living in Mbarara, a rural region of southwestern Uganda. Methods Data come from an ongoing, whole-population social network cohort study of adults living in the eight villages of Nyakabare Parish, Mbarara. A modified version of the Adverse Childhood Experiences-International Questionnaire (ACEs) assessed past exposure to physical, emotional, and sexual adversity. Participants also took part in a health fair where medical histories on cardiometabolic risk factors and cardiovascular diseases were gathered. Multiple logistic regression models estimated the associations between ACEs and cardiometabolic risk factors and health outcomes. Results Data were available on 545 adults. The average number of ACEs was 4.9 out of a possible 16. The cumulative number of ACEs were associated with having a history of heart attack and/or heart failure (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.999-1.234, P = 0.051), but the estimated association was not statistically significant. ACEs did not have statistically significant associations with any others measures of adult cardiometabolic risk and CVD.
Conclusions: Adverse childhood experiences are not associated with a range of adult cardiometabolic risk factors and health outcomes in this sample of rural Ugandan adults. Further research in this sample is necessary to identify the pathways that may motivate these null relationship and possibly protect against adverse cardiometabolic and cardiovascular health outcomes.
Rights
Copyright (c) 2021 The Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.7189/jogh.11.04035
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/36381
Citation Details
Kim, A. W., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., North, C. M., Satinsky, E. N., Perkins, J. M., ... & Tsai, A. C. (2021). Adverse childhood experiences and adult cardiometabolic risk factors and disease outcomes: Cross-sectional, population-based study of adults in rural Uganda. Journal of Global Health, 11.