Childhood sexual abuse, girls' genitourinary diseases, and psychiatric comorbidity: A matched-cohort study.

Objective

The present study aimed to determine whether psychiatric comorbidity (i.e., diagnostic comorbidity in eight categories of mental and behavioral disorders) mediates the relationship between childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and diseases of the genitourinary system (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision) among girls. Method: Using a prospective matched-cohort design, we documented diagnoses given by a physician after a medical consultation or hospitalization for diseases of the genitourinary system, for 661 sexually abused girls and 661 matched controls via administrative databases covering the period between January 1996 and March 2013. Path analyses using negative binomial regressions with CSA as independent variable, psychiatric comorbidity as mediator and genitourinary diseases diagnoses as dependent variables were performed.

Results

After controlling for socioeconomic level, prior genitourinary diseases and number of years of medical data, the mediation effect for the path from CSA to genitourinary diseases through psychiatric comorbidity was significant for the urinary system (b = .125, 95% confidence interval [0.057, 0.192]) as well as for the genital system (b = .213, 95% confidence interval [0.141, 0.285]). Psychiatric comorbidity carried 62% of the sexual abuse total effect on the number of diagnoses received for genital diseases, whereas it carried 23% of the sexual abuse total effect on the number of diagnoses received for urinary diseases.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that CSA may have an indirect effect on girls' diagnosed genitourinary diseases during a medical consultation or hospitalization through the increased risk for psychiatric comorbidity. Early interventions aimed at addressing psychological distress among sexually abused girls might prevent the emergence of genitourinary diseases years after the abuse. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).