Impact of adverse childhood experiences on life expectancy with depression in the U.K. population: The mitigating role of educational attainment

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with depression in later life.

Objective: This study aimed to measure the impact of ACEs on life expectancy with depression (DLE) and to assess how educational attainment affected expectations.

Participants and setting: The study used data on 5597 participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (2006-2013).

Methods: Depression was assessed through the eight-item short version of the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression. We used discrete-multistate life table models to estimate total life expectancy and life expectancy with depression.

Results: Older adults with ACEs had longer DLE and a higher proportion of remaining life with depression compared with those without ACEs. For example, men aged 60 years with ACEs could expect to live 5.2 (95 % confidence interval (CI): 4.2, 6.2) years with depression compared with 2.8 (95 % CI: 2.3, 3.3) years for men without ACEs. Women aged 60 years who reported ACEs could expect to live 9.4 (95 % CI: 7.6, 11.1) years with depression compared with 6.0 (95 % CI: 5.1, 7.0) years for women without ACEs. With a high level of educational attainment, older adults from younger cohorts with ACEs lived fewer depression years and spent a higher proportion of their life being free of depression than adults with ACEs and had a low level of educational attainment.

Conclusion: Our results indicated that ACEs may increase years of life with depression among U.K. adults. Meanwhile, high educational attainment could mitigate the mental health burden associated with ACEs.