Trial reportJournal of affective disorders2022
The relationship between adverse childhood experiences and common mental disorders among pregnant women living with HIV in Malawi.
Trial report in Journal of affective disorders, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03654898 (VITAL Start), which is not on this map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
VITAL Start (Video-intervention to Inspire Treatment Adherence for Life): Brief Facility-based Video Intervention to Improve Retention and Adherence to ART Among Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prospective Longitudinal Associations Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Adult Mental Health Outcomes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2026Pooled it
- The epidemiology of maternal mental health in Africa: a systematic review.Archives of women's mental health · 2025Pooled it
- Multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences and Maternal Mental Health Outcomes Among Kenyan Mothers With and Without HIV.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Varying Forms of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Late-Life Depression Among Older Adults Living with HIV.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Reduced Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy in Pregnant Women With HIV With Intimate Partner Violence in the United States.Open forum infectious diseases · 2026Article
- The Impact of Childhood Household Violence on HIV-Related Outcomes in People With HIV in the United States: The Role of Psychological Distress and Social Stressors.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2026Article
- Inside out: TNFa-RII and sexualized drug use in acute HIV predicts persistent depressive symptoms despite antiretroviral therapy.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Predominant approaches to measuring pregnancy-related anxiety in Sub-saharan Africa: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Adverse childhood experiences, mental distress, self-harm and suicidality, and cumulative HIV risk by sex in Lesotho.Child abuse & neglect · 2024Article
- The Moderating Effect of Contact with Children on the Relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Depression in Adulthood among a Chinese Adult Population.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- The prevalence, incidence, and recurrence of intimate partner violence and its association with adverse childhood experiences among pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV in Malawi.Therapeutic advances in infectious diseaseArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to common mental disorders (CMDs) such as anxiety and depressive thoughts. We examined the prevalence of ACEs and their association with CMDs among pregnant women living with HIV (PWLHIV) in Malawi-an HIV endemic resource-limited setting.
methodsThis is a cross-sectional study of 798 PWLHIV enrolled in the VITAL Start trial in Malawi (10/2018 to 06/2021) (NCT03654898). ACE histories were assessed using WHO's Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ) tool. Depressive symptoms (somatic complaints, reduced vital energy, anxiety, and depressive thoughts) were assessed using WHO's Self Reporting Questionnaire 20-Item (SRQ-20) tool. Log-binomial regressions were used to examine the association between cumulative ACEs and each depressive symptom, as well as identify ACEs driving this association.
resultsThe mean age of our sample was 27.5 years. Over 95 % reported having experienced ≥1 ACE. On average, each participant reported four ACEs; 11 % reported sexual abuse. About 52 % and 44 % reported anxiety and depressive thoughts, respectively. In regressions, cumulative ACE scores were significantly associated with depressive symptoms-even after adjusting for multiple testing. This association was primarily driven by reports of sexual abuse. LIMITATIONS: Data on maternal ACEs were self-reported and could suffer from measurement error because of recall bias.
conclusionsACEs are widespread and have a graded relationship with depressive symptoms in motherhood. Sexual abuse was found to be a primary driver of this association. Earlier recognition of ACEs and provision of trauma-informed interventions to improve care in PWLHIV may reduce negative mental health sequelae.
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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.