Childhood maltreatment and mental health: causal links to depression, anxiety, non-fatal self-harm, suicide attempts, and PTSD

作者：Zheng Zhang, Chenggang Jiang, Xinglian Wang, Haitang Qiu, Jiazheng Li, Yating Wang, Qinghua Luo, Yuanzhi Ju · 发表于：European Journal of Psychotraumatology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1080/20008066.2025.2480884 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Child Abuse and Trauma、Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development、Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse

Background: This study aims to elucidate the causal relationship between childhood maltreatment (CM) and subsequent mental health outcomes, including major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety (ANX), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicide attempts, and non-fatal self-harm. Utilising Mendelian Randomisation (MR) and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data from individuals of European descent, this research applies a rigorous analytical methodology to large-scale datasets, overcoming the confounding variables inherent in previous observational studies.Methods: Genetic data were obtained from publicly available GWAS on individuals of European ancestry, focusing on Childhood Maltreatment (CM), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Anxiety (ANX), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Age at First Episode of Depression, Number of Depression Episodes, Non-fatal self-harm, and Suicide Attempts. Mendelian Randomisation (MR) analyses were conducted to investigate the causal impact of CM on these outcomes. Sensitivity analyses included IVW, MR Egger, WM, and MR-PRESSO. FDR corrections were applied to account for multiple testing. Results were presented as odds ratios (ORs) with confidence intervals (CIs).Results: Significant associations were identified between CM and the likelihood of developing MDD (IVW: OR = 2.28, 95% CI = 1.66–3.14, PFDR < .001), ANX (IVW: OR = 1.01, 95% CI = 1.00–1.02, PFDR =.032), and PTSD (IVW: OR = 2.29, 95% CI = 1.43–3.67, PFDR =.001). CM was also linked ...