Time Magazine featured UBC research connecting childhood trauma to early cellular aging.
Lead author and UBC kinesiology professor Eli Puterman found that adults who experienced childhood stress seemed to have an increased risk of shorter telomeres, the structures found at the ends of a person’s chromosomes. This in turn is linked to increased risk of illness and early death in adulthood.
Some of the potential stressors are drug or alcohol abuse by parents, physical abuse, and trouble with the law, according to the study.
A similar story appeared on U.S. News & World Report, Daily Mail UK, The Scientist and HealthDay.
