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.