The lower proportion of male births at high maternal age in pregnancies with pre-eclampsia and in pregnancies with live born SGA offspring born at term, supports the hypothesis that male fetuses are more vulnerable to maternal stress than female fetuses. The main limitation of our findings is lack of statistical power due to small study subpopulations.

Aims: To investigate whether adolescents and young adults with a history of child abuse had more physical health complaints compared to their unexposed peers. We also aimed to estimate associations between different child abuse types with physical health complaints and associations between the number of child abuse types and physical health complaints. Methods: This population-based telephone survey over two waves included 506 adolescents and young adults exposed to child abuse and 504 non-abused peers aged 16–33 years. We applied linear regression analyses to investigate associations between child abuse types and physical health complaints, unadjusted and mutually adjusted for co-occurring abuse, and to investigate how the number of child abuse types associated with physical health complaints. Results: Participants exposed to child abuse reported significantly more physical health complaints. The child abuse types strongly co-occurred. When adjusting for co-occurring child abuse, only sexual and emotional abuse were significantly associated with physical health complaints. Physical health complaints increased with the higher number of child abuse types experienced. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that exposure to abuse, particularly sexual and emotional, during childhood predicts physical health complaints in adolescence and early adulthood. In a public health perspective, early identification of child abuse may be beneficial in preventing physical health complaints later in life.

Background: Child abuse is associated with physical health problems in adolescence and adulthood, but the mechanisms involved are unclear. A possible mediating effect of posttraumatic stress reactions (PTSR) linking child abuse with later physical health complaints has not been fully investigated. Objective: The current study investigated whether PTSR could be a potential mediator in the relationship between child abuse and physical health complaints in adolescents and young adults. If so, we also investigated whether this was the case for different child abuse types alone or in combination. Method: The study sample comprised 506 adolescents and young adult victims of child abuse and 504 unexposed matched controls aged 16-33 from a community sample. We measured child abuse retrospectively and current PTSR at wave 1 (2013), and current physical health complaints at wave 2 (2014/15). We tested a model of PTSR as a possible mediator between child abuse and physical health complaints and conducted causal mediation analysis to estimate direct and indirect pathways. Each child abuse type was studied in isolation and in combination with other abuse types. Results: PTSR had a notable, significant mediating effect on the relationship between child abuse and physical health complaints in our overall model (average causal mediation effect; ACME = 0.14, p < 0.001), accounting for 85% of the total effect. The mediated pathway was also significant in analyses of the different child abuse types. The mediating effect of PTSR was most prominent in individuals reporting exposure to more than one child abuse type. Conclusions: The current study indicates that PTSR may be an important mediator in the relationship between child abuse and physical health complaints. Health professionals should be aware of the important role that PTSR may have in maintaining or exacerbating physical health problems in child abuse victims. However, a reverse model could not be tested in this study and the results need confirmation in future prospective studies.

Aim: We investigated whether adolescents who had recently disclosed sexual abuse or family violence displayed more psychological trauma symptoms and physical health complaints than unaffected controls. We also investigated to what degree physical health complaints were associated with trauma symptoms in these abuse victims. Methods: Abuse, trauma symptoms and physical health complaints were assessed during face-to-face interviews with 40 sexual abuse victims and 35 family violence victims aged 10-18 years. They had all attended forensic interviews at the Barnehus in Oslo, a specialised Norwegian police unit where evidence is gathered in adolescentfriendly surroundings, from October 2016 to November 2018. Their symptoms were compared with 41 controls from the general population. Linear regression analyses investigated associations between trauma symptoms and physical health complaints. Results: Sexually abused adolescents displayed higher levels of post-traumatic stress reactions, depression, dissociation and physical health complaints than unaffected controls. Family violence victims displayed higher levels of post-traumatic stress reactions. Trauma symptoms were associated with physical health complaints, and these were most prominent in the adolescents with the highest burden of symptoms. Conclusion: Based on the high burden of symptoms revealed, clinical examinations of abused adolescents should include a systematic assessment of trauma symptoms and physical health complaints. K E Y W O R D S child abuse, physical health complaints, post-traumatic stress reactions, trauma symptoms, violence in close relationships 1 | INTRODUC TI ON Child abuse has profound and enduring effects on psychological and physical health throughout life. 1,2 Studies that have investigated child abuse in relation to trauma symptoms and physical health have shown that such symptoms may co-occur as early as in adolescence and young adulthood. 3,4 However, studies conducted with children and adolescents are rare and their findings have been inconsistent. One study examined the physical health complaints reported by sexually abused children who had post-traumatic stress disorder.