Associations Between Child Maltreatment, Autonomic Regulation, and Adverse Cardiovascular Outcome in an Urban Population: The HELIUS Study

Abstract

In a large, multi-ethnic urban-population cohort study we observed a positive association between number of endorsed child maltreatment types and self-reported aCVO but not autonomic regulation, over and above the effect of relevant demographic, health, and psychological factors. Future studies should examine the potential role of the dynamics of autonomic dysregulation as potential underlying biological pathways in the association between ACEs and CVD, as this could eventually facilitate the development of preventive and therapeutic strategies for CVD.