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Childhood or adolescent physical or sexual abuse has been linked to mortality and to other adverse health outcomes in adulthood, but the role of mental health conditions and adverse lifestyle patterns in mediating these associations is unclear. To address this issue, researchers analyzed data from 68,000 women in the U.S. Nurses Health Study who have been followed since 1989 who completed questionnaires in 2001 about early-life abuse.
About half of the nurses reported physical abuse and one third reported sexual abuse in childhood or adolescence. Analyses showed associations between early-life physical or sexual abuse and all-cause premature death (i.e., age <70); premature death due to injury, poisoning, or suicide; and premature death due …