This news may startle a wide group pf people. A study from University of Toronto claims that adults who underwent physical abuse as children have about 56 per cent more chances of suffering from osteoarthritis as opposed to those who have not been abused. Osteoarthritis is said to occasionally be an incapacitating severe condition that affects millions of adults.
The experts examined the affiliation between self-reported childhood physical abuse and detection of osteoarthritis (OA). Subsequent to evaluating representative data from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey, the experts apparently found a substantial connection between childhood physical abuse and osteoarthritis in adulthood.
Lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson of U of T’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and Department of Family and Community Medicine, commented, “We found that 10.2 per cent of those with osteoarthritis reported they had been physically abused as children in comparison to 6.5 per cent of those without osteoarthritis. This study provides further support for the need to investigate the possible role that childhood abuse plays in the development of chronic illness.â€
Co-author Sarah Brennenstuhl, a doctoral student at the University of Toronto, mentioned, “We were surprised that the significant association between childhood physical abuse and osteoarthritis persisted even after controlling for major potentially confounding factors such as obesity, physical activity levels as well as age, gender, income and race.â€
As per Fuller-Thomson, one significant opportunity for potential study is to examine the pathways through which arthritis may develop as an outcome of childhood physical abuse.
The study appears in the Journal Arthritis Care & Research.