Childhood Trauma Triggers Cancer, Asthma and Heart Disease

Harsh punishment during childhood escalates the risks of cancer, heart disease and asthma in adulthood, according to a new study.

Professor Michael Hyland and colleagues from Plymouth University included 700 people in Saudi Arabia to examine the hidden risks associated with beating and insulting children. They found these punishments contributed to high levels of stress levels in childhood that further causes some biological changes, increasing the risks of these diseases in future.

"Early life stress in the form of trauma and abuse is known to creating long term changes that predispose to later disease," Hyland said in a news release. "But this study shows that in a society where corporal punishment is considered normal, the use of corporal punishment is sufficiently stressful to have the same kinds of long term impact as abuse and trauma." 

The participants included both healthy people (250) and patients of asthma, cancer or cardiac disease. All the participants shared information about physical and verbal punishment at childhood.

Researchers found participants with cancer, asthma and cardiac disease receiving harsh punishments (1.7 times, 1.6 times and 1.3 times respectively) more frequently than others.

"Our research adds a new perspective on the increasing evidence that the use of corporal punishment can contribute to childhood stress, and when it becomes a stressor, corporal punishment contributes to poor outcomes both for the individual concerned and for society," Hyland said.

Results of the study have been published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

Previous studies found the risks associated with adverse childhood experiences.  A study published in Pediatrics in July found people who experienced hitting and spanking during childhood suffered from wide range of mental and personality disorders in life.

Researchers from Purdue University found constant abuse of a child by parents increasing the risks of cancer in adulthood. The effects were found greater between same -sex children and parents, i.e. when mothers abuse daughters and fathers abuse sons.

Another study published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology found a link between emotional neglect in childhood and stroke risks in adulthood.