• The CDC’s Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study) uncovered a stunning link between childhood trauma and the chronic diseases people develop as adults, as well as social and emotional problems. This includes heart disease, lung cancer, diabetes and many autoimmune diseases, as well as depression, violence, being a victim of violence, and suicide.
  • The study’s participants were 17,000 mostly white, middle and upper-middle class college-educated San Diegans with good jobs and health care – they all belonged to the Kaiser Permanente health maintenance organization.
  • Childhood trauma was very common, among all segments of the population including employed white middle-class, college-educated people with great health insurance.
  • There was a direct link between childhood trauma and adult onset of chronic disease, as well as depression, suicide, being violent, and being a victim of violence.
  • More types of trauma increased the risk of health, social, and emotional problems.
  • People usually experience more than one type of trauma – rarely is it only sex abuse or only verbal abuse.
  • Behaviors associated with high ACE scores:
    • Using drugs
    • Overeating
    • Engaging in risky behavior
    • Smoking
  • Two thirds of the 17,000 people in the ACE Study had an ACE score of at least one — 87 percent of those had more than one. Eighteen states have done their own ACE surveys; their results are similar to the CDC’s ACE Study.
  • As your ACE score increases, so does the risk of disease, social and emotional problems. With an ACE score of 4 or more, health risks start getting serious. The likelihood of chronic pulmonary lung disease increase by 390 percent; hepatitis, 240 percent; depression 460 percent; suicide, 1,220 percent.