Childhood maltreatment and lung function: Findings from the general population
- Carsten Spitzer1,
- Ralf Ewert2,
- Henry Völzke3,
- Stefan Frenzel4,
- Stephan B. Felix2,
- Laura Lübke1,6 and
- Hans J. Grabe4,5,6
- 1Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Rostock, Rostock, Germany
- 2Department of Internal Medicine B – Cardiology, Pulmonary Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Intensive Care Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
- 3Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
- 4Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
- 5German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease (DZNE), Rostock/Greifswald, Germany
- 6shared senior authorship
- Prof. Carsten Spitzer, MD, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Rostock, Gehlsheimer Straße 20, D-18147 Rostock, Germany. E-mail: carsten.spitzer{at}med.uni-rostock.de
Abstract
Objective Cumulative evidence indicates that childhood maltreatment (CM) is linked to self-reported asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, the relation between CM and objective measures of lung function as determined by spirometry has not yet been assessed.
Methods Medical histories and spirometric lung function were taken in 1386 adults from the general population. Participants also completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire for the assessment of emotional, physical and sexual abuse as well as emotional and physical neglect.
Results 25.3% of the participants reported at least one type of CM. Among them, use of medication for obstructive airway diseases as well as typical signs and symptoms of airflow limitation were significantly more frequent than in the group without exposure to CM. Although participants with CM had numerically lower values for FEV1, FVC and PEF than those without, these differences were non-significant when accounting for relevant covariates like age, sex, height and smoking. Likewise, there were no differences in the FEV1/FVC ratio nor in the frequency of airflow limitation regardless of its definition. No specific type of CM was related to spirometrically determined parameters of lung function.
Conclusions Our findings call into question the association of CM with obstructive lung diseases as indicated by prior research relying on self-reported diagnoses. We consider several explanations for these discrepancies.
Footnotes
This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Yan reports grants from National Institutes of Health, during the conduct of the study;.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Spitzer has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Ewert reports lectures fees for Actelion Germany, Janssen Germany, OMT, AstraZeneca, Bayer Vital, GSK, Novartis and Boehringer Ingelheim. Fees for participation on Advisory Board for Actelion, GS and Novartis. .
Conflict of interest: Dr. Völzke has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Frenzel has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Felix has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Lübke has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Grabe reports grants and personal fees from Fresenius Medical Care, personal fees from Neuraxpharm, personal fees from Servier, personal fees from Janssen Cilag, grants from German Research Foundation (DFG), grants from German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), grants from DAMP Foundation, grants from EU Joint Program Neurodegenerative Disorders (JPND), grants from European Social Fund (ESF), outside the submitted work.
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- Received July 23, 2020.
- Accepted October 7, 2020.
- Copyright ©ERS 2020