OBJECTIVE: Childhood trauma and telomere length (TL) are important risk factors for major depressive disorder. We examined whether there was an association between childhood trauma and TL in a sample of Colombians who were assessed for depressive symptoms. METHODS: We applied the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to 92 Colombian subjects (mean age = 21). TL was measured with quantitative PCR. Spearman's correlation coefficient (rs) was used to analyze the relationship between childhood trauma scores and TL. RESULTS: We found a significant correlation between TL and sexual abuse scores (rs = 0.428, p = 0.002) in individuals with higher depressive symptom scores. CONCLUSION: This is the first report of a significant association between TL and sexual abuse in a Latin American sample and provides additional evidence about the role of childhood trauma and TL in neuropsychiatric disorders.
CITATION STYLE
Jiménez, K. M., Pereira-Morales, A. J., Adan, A., & Forero, D. A. (2019). Telomere length and childhood trauma in Colombians with depressive symptoms. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999), 41(3), 194–198. https://doi.org/10.1590/1516-4446-2018-0027
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