Telomere length and childhood trauma in Colombians with depressive symptoms.

OBJECTIVE

Childhood trauma and telomere length (TL) are important risk factors for major depressive disorder. We examined whether there was an association between childhood trauma and TL in a sample of Colombians who were assessed for depressive symptoms.

METHODS

We applied the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire to 92 Colombian subjects (mean age = 21). TL was measured with quantitative PCR. Spearman's correlation coefficient (rs) was used to analyze the relationship between childhood trauma scores and TL.

RESULTS

We found a significant correlation between TL and sexual abuse scores (rs = 0.428, p = 0.002) in individuals with higher depressive symptom scores.

CONCLUSION

This is the first report of a significant association between TL and sexual abuse in a Latin American sample and provides additional evidence about the role of childhood trauma and TL in neuropsychiatric disorders.