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Making a link between childhood physical abuse and cancer
Author(s) -
FullerThomson Esme,
Brennenstuhl Sarah
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/cncr.24372
Subject(s) - medicine , odds ratio , physical abuse , socioeconomic status , confidence interval , stressor , demography , child abuse , cancer , poison control , odds , injury prevention , gerontology , psychiatry , environmental health , logistic regression , population , sociology
BACKGROUND: Abuse in childhood is associated with many negative adult health outcomes. Only 1 study to date has found an association between childhood abuse and cancer. By using a regionally representative community sample, this preliminary study sought to investigate the association between childhood physical abuse and cancer while controlling for 3 clusters of risk factors: childhood stressors, adult health behaviors, and adult socioeconomic status. METHODS: Regional data from the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan were selected from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. Of the 13,092 respondents, 7.4% (n = 1025) reported that they had been physically abused as a child by someone close to them, and 5.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.9‐6.6) reported that they had been diagnosed with cancer by a health professional. The regional level response rate was 84%. RESULTS: Childhood physical abuse was associated with 49% higher odds (95% CI, 1.10‐2.01) of cancer when adjusting for age, sex, and race only. The odds ratio decreased only slightly to 47% higher odds (95% CI, 1.05‐1.99) when the model was adjusted for all 3 clusters of risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: A significant and highly stable association between childhood physical abuse and cancer was found even when adjusting for 3 clusters of risk factors. Further research focusing on the potential mechanisms linking childhood abuse and cancer is needed. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.