Year:
Applicant:
Trainee:
Institution:
Email:
rmarrie@hsc.mb.ca
Keywords:
adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
autoimmune diseases
childhood maltreatment
psychiatric disorders
Project ID:
2201019
Approved Project Status:
Project Summary
In people with immune diseases, the immune system causes symptoms in different parts of the bodies. For example, in multiple sclerosis the brain is affected. People with immune diseases are more likely than people without immune diseases to experience depression or anxiety. We are still learning what causes immune diseases. We recently found that people with immune diseases experienced abuse during childhood more often than healthy people. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to abuse, neglect, and other situations like parental divorce or mental illness. ACEs may affect the immune system and how a person responds to stress. ACEs may also affect how the brain develops. We think this may increase the risk of having an immune disease or depression and anxiety. We will compare the rates of ACEs in people with immune diseases to that of people who have other chronic diseases, and who are healthy. We will also compare the rates of ACEs and psychiatric disorders among people with IMID.
Project Findings
Different types of immune diseases cause symptoms in different parts of the body. People with multiple sclerosis experience symptoms in their brains; people with inflammatory bowel disease experience symptoms in their bowels; and people with rheumatoid arthritis experience symptoms in their joints. We do not know what causes immune diseases, but we may find out by studying differences between people with immune diseases and people with other chronic diseases or healthy individuals. We know that people with immune diseases are more likely than healthy people to experience depression or anxiety and abuse during childhood. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to abuse, neglect, and other situations like parental divorce or mental illness. We found that people with immune disease were more likely to experience ACEs than healthy people, but were not more likely to experience ACEs compared to people with non-immune diseases. We also found that people with immune disease affecting the brain (multiple sclerosis) did not have higher rates of ACEs when compared to people with immune diseases affecting their bowels or joints. Next, we found that people with immune disease who experienced ACEs were at higher risk for mental illness. The risk of mental illness following an ACE did not differ between people with different immune diseases. Finally, we found that mental illness plays a small role in the relationship between ACEs and immune diseases.
