THE EFFECT OF ACE’S ON PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES OF HEALTH

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https://youtu.be/RzKWRGm-J34 BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine if Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) are related to physiological measures of health. ACE’s are associated with an increase in the inflammatory response. Chronic inflammation is linked to diseases such as heart disease, lung disease, and cancer as well as immunologic conditions. Lifestyle choices such as exercise and dietary habits may potentially counteract those inflammatory changes related to higher ACE’s due to the anti-inflammatory properties associated with those choices. METHODS Participants visited the Exercise Physiology Lab and first completed an informed consent. Following that, participants were given the two survey instruments: ACE’s assessment and Simple 7 assessment. Participants were to complete each survey assessment and place the completed assessments in a sealed manilla envelope. After completing the survey instruments, participants had resting blood pressure, height, weight and body composition (Tanita body fat scale) measurements completed. Following the resting measures participants put on a Polar telemetry strap and started a self-selected warm-up on the treadmill. After a 5-min warm-up, participants started a Bruce Protocol treadmill test that was terminated at 80% of age-predicted maximum heart rate or a request to stop or for any reason signifying cardiopulmonary distress . A correlational analysis was conducted using SPSS v30. RESULTS In total12 participants (8 female, 4 male) were analyzed. Body mass index (BMI) and age of first occurrence for the ACE’s assessment were correlated, p = 0.045, r = -0.587. Other correlations were trending towards significance but due to a smaller sample size, significance was not achieved. ACE’s and stage RPE (p = 0.084, r = 0.519), heart rate at test termination (p = 0.054, r = 0.568) and resting arterial pulse pressure (p = 0.097, r = -0.502) were not significantly correlated. ACE’s assessment part 2 regarding support systems had a trending correlation with resting mean arterial pressure (p = 0.097, r = -0.501). CONCLUSIONS ACE’s may have a long-term physiological impact from psychological stress at a younger age. Data showed those with an earlier age of adverse experiences, correlated with a higher BMI. High BMI is associated with many chronic diseases such as heart disease, lung disease, metabolic diseases and cancer. With other data trending toward significance, further investigation into ACE’s and health values should be explored to determine the long-term impact of psychological damage from childhood.