Shocked by her own findings, the principal researcher of a University of Toronto cancer research study says they found very strong links between childhood abuse and the occurrence of adult cancer.
 
To be published in mid-July in the journal, Cancer, ‘perpetual stress’ is one theory put forward to explain the high incidence of adult cancers linked to survivors of childhood abuse.  In a mind-body link, psychological damage suffered in childhood abuse results in an increased risk of cancer development as an adult, with the odds of developing cancer as an adult, 49% higher in a person who experienced childhood abuse.
 
Makes sense as perpetual stress that an abused child experiences, increases the levels of cortisol, the ‘fight or flight’ hormone, and elevated levels of the hormone prevent the immune system from detecting and destroying cancer cells.  With every stressor, the human body responds with a huge amount of this hormone, sending the heart beat up and suppressing the immune system.
 
Beginning her study with an older American study, which had demonstrated a link between childhood abuse and the occurrence of major diseases in adulthood, Esme Fuller-Thompson, the principal researcher, presumed adults abused as children were also more likely to develop detrimental and unhealthy behaviours like smoking, predisposing them to diseases like cancer.
 
Delving into the assumptions of the American research, Fuller-Thompson took into account factors like childhood stressors, such as:

•    Parental substance addiction, poverty, divorce,

•    Adult health behaviours (smoking, physical fitness, alcohol consumption), and

•    Socio-economic status (educational attainment and income).