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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.

Sec. Rheumatology

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1582075

ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CHILDHOOD TRAUMA, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY DISORDERS AND EARLY ARTHRITIS PRESENCE

Provisionally accepted
Ana KonjikusicAna Konjikusic1,2*Sarah OhrndorfSarah Ohrndorf1,2Tanja BraunTanja Braun1,2Vivien KluckowVivien Kluckow1,2Vera Höhne- ZimmerVera Höhne- Zimmer1,2Gabriela SchmittatGabriela Schmittat1,2Christine HeimChristine Heim1Ralf UebelhackRalf Uebelhack1Kirsten MindenKirsten Minden1Jacqueline DetertJacqueline Detert1Gerd BurmesterGerd Burmester1Desiree SchaumburgDesiree Schaumburg1
  • 1Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • 2Department for rheumatology and clinical Immunology, Berlin, Germany

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To compare the prevalence of childhood trauma, depression, and anxiety disorders between patients with early arthritis (EA) and a control group (CG). We further aimed to explore the influence of these variables on EA diagnosis.This monocentric study included 60 prospectively recruited EA patients with at least one inflammatory joint with a symptom duration of 1-12 months. The CG consisted of 60 individuals with no clinical signs of arthritis. The participants underwent a semi-structured interview screening for psychiatric disorders and completed standardized questionnaires, including the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A, HADS-D), the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS). For statistical analysis, we used SPPS© χ² test, T-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and binominal regression analysis.Compared to the CG, patients with EA had significantly higher rates of depression in the interview (41.7 % vs. 16.7 %; p=0.03) and PTSD (13.3 % vs. 3.3 %; p=0.048), and significantly higher HADS-D and CTQ childhood sexual abuse mean scores

Keywords: Early arthritis (EA), Depression, childhood trauma, Anxiety, PTSD - Posttraumatic stress disorder

Received: 23 Feb 2025; Accepted: 25 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Konjikusic, Ohrndorf, Braun, Kluckow, Höhne- Zimmer, Schmittat, Heim, Uebelhack, Minden, Detert, Burmester and Schaumburg. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Ana Konjikusic, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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