The Protective Role of Resilience on Cardiovascular Health in Young Adults Exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are strong emotional or physical stressors that occur during sensitive developmental periods and are associated with reduced cardiovascular health (CVH). Resilience, or the psychological capacity of individuals to cope with adversity, has been recently shown to have a positive influence on CVH. Despite the dose-dependent detrimental impact of ACEs on CVH, it is unknown whether resilience exerts a protective cardiovascular effect against early stress. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact that resilience may have on CVH in young adults who experienced ACEs. Methods: Eighteen young and apparently healthy adults (22±3 yo) with a history of severe ACE exposure (≥4) participated in this study and provided self-reported data about resilience. CVH was assessed non-invasively through transcutaneous arterial tonometry to evaluate arterial stiffness (pulse-wave velocity, PWV), myocardial oxygen demand (Systolic Pressure Time Index, SPTI), myocardial oxygen supply (Diastolic Pressure Time Index, DPTI) and myocardial perfusion (Subendocardial Viability Ratio, SEVR). Circulating biomarkers related to CVH were also evaluated (high-sensitive C-reactive protein, hsCRP). Results: Eleven participants reported high resilience (HR: resilience score≥95), while seven reported low resilience (LR: resilience score<95). Young adults with high resilience presented with a significantly lower myocardial oxygen demand (SPTI; HR: 1866±111 vs. LR: 2227±117mmHg·s/min, p=0.047) and higher myocardial perfusion (SEVR; HR: 168±13 vs.LR: 127 ±9% , p=0.034) than those with low resilience and a positive association between SEVR and resilience was identified ( r=0.492; p=0.045). No differences in myocardial oxygen supply ( p=0.225) or arterial stiffness ( p=0.614) were observed between groups. However, circulating hsCRP was also significantly lower in the HR group than the LR (0.89±0.3 vs. 2.96±1 mg/dL, p=0.041) and negatively associated with resilience ( r=-0.511; p=0.051). Conclusions: Our data suggests that, among young and apparently healthy adults exposed to childhood adversity, those who are psychologically more resilient exhibit higher myocardial perfusion and overall better CVH than those less resilient despite a history of severe ACEs. These findings suggest that resilience may protect, at least partially, against the early impact of ACEs on CVH. Future studies are thus warranted to further explore the relationship between resilience and CVH. Supported in part by the Child Health Research Institute at VCU. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.