Citation

Guillaume B, Pascal A, Laurent B. J. Physiol. (Paris) 2016; 110(4 Pt B): 448-452.

Affiliation

Public Health, Chronic Diseases and Quality of Life - Research Unit EA 3279, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France. Electronic address: laurent.boyer@ap-hm.fr.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jphysparis.2017.06.003

PMID

28698013

Abstract

Early child maltreatment has been widely associated with the development of mental disorders in both childhood and adulthood. However, such association cannot be systematically established, as only few factors are observed regularly, such as high prevalence of comorbidities and externalized disorders. Similarly, the association between early abuse and cortisol secretion anomalies has been well-documented. Whereas early hypercortisolism followed by hypocortisolism was often described, the results proved inconsistent and at times contradictory. The physiopathological mechanisms are quite complex and varied, including mixed neurotoxicity and stress response anomalies, linked to circadian rhythm disturbances. One of the difficulties inherent to research on this topic is to better define maltreatment in childhood. Studying children's groups at risk of maltreatment, such as children followed by juvenile justice or in child welfare systems, could be a very good tool, provided that social, judiciary, and mental health professionals are able to work together and implement common research objectives.

Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Language: en

Keywords

Early life stress; child maltreatment; childhood and adulthood mental disorders; cortisol circadian rhythm; cortisol level