Is a history of child abuse linked to blood pressure in adolescence?

Details

Childhood trauma is associated with hypertension in adults, but it is unknown whether it predicts elevated blood pressure earlier in development. Researchers investigated whether child abuse was associated with blood pressure in adolescents.

The sample included 145 adolescents aged 13–17 years, 40% of whom had been exposed to child abuse. Their mean age was 14.93 years (SD 1.33), and 58% were female. Participants self-identified as non-Hispanic White (43%), non-Hispanic Black (17%), Hispanic (17%), or other or mixed race (23%).

Researchers used established age-, sex-, and height-specific cutoffs to determine the prevalence of prehypertension and hypertension. They used two-sample t tests to examine associations between abuse and resting systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), as well as blood pressure reactivity to the Trier Social Stress Test and a frustration task. Linear regression was used to adjust for potential confounders, including sociodemographic variables, body mass index, smoking, and psychopathology.

Among adolescents with an abuse history, mean resting SBP was 114.07 mmHg and DBP was 61.35 mmHg; among those without an abuse history, the respective means were 111.39 mmHg and 56.89 mmHg. The difference was significant only for DBP. Based on resting blood pressure, 12% of participants met criteria for prehypertension or hypertension, with no difference between those with and without an abuse history.

Child abuse was associated with lower DBP and SBP reactivity to laboratory stress tasks and lower DBP reactivity to frustration. These associations remained robust after adjustment for potential confounders. The researchers concluded that child abuse was associated with higher resting DBP and blunted DBP and SBP reactivity to laboratory stress in adolescence. They suggested that the findings point to a potential pathway by which child abuse leads to hypertension.