SynthesisBMC pediatrics2018
Systematic review of pediatric health outcomes associated with childhood adversity.
Synthesis in BMC pediatrics, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 186 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
186 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Associations between community violence and pediatric sleep health: A systematic review.Sleep health · 2026Pooled it
- The Prevalence, Dental Complications, and Effects of Infant Oral Mutilation.International dental journal · 2024Pooled it
- Postoperative morbidity and mortality in pediatric indigenous populations: a scoping review and meta-analysis.Pediatric surgery international · 2023Pooled it
- Association between Childhood Exposure to Family Violence and Telomere Length: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A systematic review of childhood maltreatment and DNA methylation: candidate gene and epigenome-wide approaches.Translational psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Childhood Adversities and Salivary Cortisol Responses to the Trier Social Stress Test: A Systematic Review of Studies Using the Children Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ).International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Adolescents' and parents' perspectives on addressing adverse childhood experiences in school-based health centers.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Adverse experiences in childhood and adolescence in relation to sleep health in adulthood: An overview of systematic reviews and a global evidence map.Sleep medicine reviews · 2026Review
- Adverse childhood experiences and risk of non-mental medical diseases in adulthood: an umbrella review.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- Violence against minors. Analysis of the phenomenon based on forensic medical examinations performed at the Department of Forensic Medicine in Poznan in 2015-2020.Archiwum medycyny sadowej i kryminologii · 2026Article
- Clinical Characteristics of Adolescents Admitted to a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department in Poland: A Retrospective Chart Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Profile of hospitalised maltreated children aged 0 to 3 years and their families.Singapore medical journal · 2026Article
- Prenatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2, early relational health, and child socio-emotional functioning in the first 6 months.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Attachment Theory: Novel Clinical and Molecular Insights.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- The impact of contamination bias when replicating maltreatment effects on child behavior problems.PloS one · 2026Article
- The effect of the "exposome" on developmental brain health and cognitive outcomes.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Early Life Stress Effects on Children's Biology, Behavior, and Health: Evidence, Mediators, Moderators, and Solutions.Annual review of psychology · 2026Review
- Unpredictability is a childhood adversity that contributes to mental health problems.Nature. Mental health · 2026Article
- Adverse Childhood Experiences in the First 1000 Days of Life and Dental Caries Experience From Age 31 to 61 Months.Journal of public health dentistry · 2025Article
126 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEarly detection of and intervention in childhood adversity has powerful potential to improve the health and well-being of children. A systematic review was conducted to better understand the pediatric health outcomes associated with childhood adversity.
methodsPubMed, PsycArticles, and CINAHL were searched for relevant articles. Longitudinal studies examining various adverse childhood experiences and biological health outcomes occurring prior to age 20 were selected. Mental and behavioral health outcomes were excluded, as were physical health outcomes that were a direct result of adversity (i.e. abusive head trauma). Data were extracted and risk of bias was assessed by 2 independent reviewers.
resultsAfter identifying 15940 records, 35 studies were included in this review. Selected studies indicated that exposure to childhood adversity was associated with delays in cognitive development, asthma, infection, somatic complaints, and sleep disruption. Studies on household dysfunction reported an effect on weight during early childhood, and studies on maltreatment reported an effect on weight during adolescence. Maternal mental health issues were associated with elevated cortisol levels, and maltreatment was associated with blunted cortisol levels in childhood. Furthermore, exposure to childhood adversity was associated with alterations of immune and inflammatory response and stress-related accelerated telomere erosion.
conclusionChildhood adversity affects brain development and multiple body systems, and the physiologic manifestations can be detectable in childhood. A history of childhood adversity should be considered in the differential diagnosis of developmental delay, asthma, recurrent infections requiring hospitalization, somatic complaints, and sleep disruption. The variability in children's response to adversity suggests complex underlying mechanisms and poses a challenge in the development of uniform diagnostic guidelines. More large longitudinal studies are needed to better understand how adversity, its timing and severity, and the presence of individual genetic, epigenetic, and protective factors affects children's health and development.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.