Adverse Childhood Experiences and Opioids

In the 1990s, the CDC and Kaiser Permanente conducted a study to see how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) such as abuse and neglect affected adult health outcomes. Since then, researchers have applied the idea of ACEs to examinations of illicit drug use.

How Childhood Trauma Affects Health across a Lifetime - TED Talk by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris
Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that Adverse Childhood Experiences have real, tangible effects on the development of the brain that unfold across a lifetime.
Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults
by Vincent J. Felitti, et al. American Journal of Preventative Medicine 14.4, 1998. This article is one of the first major publications of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study.
The Long-term Effects of Childhood Maltreatment Experiences on Subsequent Illicit Drug Use and Drug-related Problems in Young Adulthood
by Shi Huang, et al. Addictive Behaviors 36.1-2, 2011.
The Relationships of Childhood Trauma and Adulthood Prescription Pain Reliever Misuse and Injection Drug Use
by Kelly Quinn, et al. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 169, 2016.
The Relationship between Child Abuse and Negative Outcomes among Substance Users: Psychopathology, Health, and Comorbidities
by Anne N. Banducci, et al. Addictive Behaviors 39.10, 2014