Effects of childhood psychological trauma on rheumatic diseases

Abstract

Objective: The etiology of rheumatic diseases is unclear, but it is thought that environmental factorsadded to immunogenetic mechanisms in chronic inflammatory diseases play a role. Many inflammatory disorders, autoimmune diseases, and painful conditions have been shown to be associatedwith the psychological trauma of childhood. The aim of the present study was to investigate childhood psychological trauma that is considered to be one of the environmental factors that initiateinflammation on patients with rheumatic diseases.Methods: In our study, a total of 440 patients (220 patients who have rheumatic diseases as thecase group and 220 patients who have no rheumatic disease as the control group) were examined.The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-28 (CTQ-28) was administered and was completed by thepatients. This was a cross-sectional study design.Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the case and control groupswith respect to age, gender, marital status, and educational level. The CTQ-28 scale was foundto be significantly higher in patients with rheumatic diseases (ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoidarthritis, and connective tissue disease) in our study.Conclusion: We think that childhood psychiatric traumas are effective in the etiopathogenesis ofrheumatic diseases. To make this relationship more understandable, multidisciplinary research andlong-term follow-up studies are needed to examine neuroendocrine, genetic, and epidemiologicalfactors.