Growing through asphalt: What counteracts the long-term negative health impact of youth adversity?

Background: Adversity in the family of origin tends to translate into poor health development. Yet, the fact that this is not the always the case has been seen an indicator of resilience. The current study highlights factors outside the context of the family with the potential to counteract the long-term negative influences of social and material adversity in adolescence on general health status.Methods: The study was based on the Northern Swedish Cohort born in 1965 (n = 1,001). Measures of social and material adversity, health, and protective factors related to school, peers, and spare time, were derived from questionnaires distributed to the cohort members and their teachers at age 16. Self-rated health was measured at age 43. The main associations were examined by means of ordinal regression analysis, with the role of the protective factors being assessed through interaction analysis.Results: Social and material adversity in youth was associated with poorer self-rated health in midlife among males and females alike, net of health status at baseline. However, having an advantaged situation with regard to school, peers, or spare time – particularly in terms of being seen as having good educational and work prospects, as well as a high-quality spare time – appeared to protect against the detrimental influences of disadvantaged circumstances in the family context on subsequent health.Conclusions: There are several factors outside the context of the family that seemingly have the potential to buffer against the negative health consequences stemming from having experienced a disadvantaged upbringing. Initiatives targeted at increasing academic motivation and commitment as well as social capital and relationships in youth, may here be of particular relevance.Key messages:While the experience of disadvantageous living conditions in adolescence tends to translate into poor health development across the life course, this is not always the case.Advantages related to school, peers, and spare time have the potential of counteracting the negative health impact of an adverse family context.</ul

Cardiovascular Disease Events in Adults with a History of State Care in Childhood: Pooling of Unpublished Results from 9 Cohort Studies

BACKGROUND: Individuals who were separated from their biological family and placed into the care of the state during childhood (out-of-home care) are more prone to developing selected physical and mental health problems in adulthood, however, their risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is uncertain. Accordingly, we pooled published and unpublished results from cohort studies of childhood care and adult CVD. METHODS: We used two approaches to identifying relevant data on childhood care and adult CVD (PROSPERO registration CRD42021254665). First, to locate published studies, we searched PubMed (Medline) until November 2023. Second, with the aim of identifying unpublished studies with the potential to address the present research question, we scrutinised retrieved reviews of the impact of childhood state care on related adult health outcomes. All included studies were required to have prospective measurement of state care in childhood and a follow-up of CVD events in adulthood as the primary outcome (incident coronary heart disease and/or stroke). Collaborating investigators provided study-specific estimates which were aggregated using random-effects meta-analysis. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess individual study quality. FINDINGS: Thirteen studies (2 published, 11 unpublished) met the inclusion criteria, and investigators from nine provided viable results, including updated analyses of the published studies. Studies comprised 611,601 individuals (301,129 women) from the US, UK, Sweden, Finland, and Australia. Relative to the unexposed, individuals with a care placement during childhood had a 50% greater risk of CVD in adulthood (summary rate ratio after basic adjustment [95% confidence interval]: 1.50 [1.22, 1.84]); range of study-specific estimates: 1.28 to 2.06; I2 = 69%, p = 0.001). This association was attenuated but persisted after multivariable adjustment for socioeconomic status in childhood (8 studies; 1.41 [1.15, 1.72]) and adulthood (9 studies, 1.28 [1.10, 1.50]). There was a suggestion of a stronger state care-CVD association in women. INTERPRETATION: Our findings show that individuals with experience of state care in childhood have a moderately raised risk of CVD in adulthood. For timely prevention, clinicians and policy makers should be aware that people with a care history may need additional attention in risk factor management