A new study suggests children who suffer neglect and maltreatment will see their risk of recurrent skin cancer go up dramatically as an adult.
Bonnie Grimaldi said she makes sure to protect her skin before heading outside. She learned the hard way the damage the sun can do.
"There was a red, rough area right in my collar bone, and it just wouldn't go away," said Bonnie Grimaldi.
She said her spot turned out to be basal cell skin cancer. With her fair skin and blonde hair, doctors know people like Grimaldi have a higher risk for skin cancer.
Grimaldi said her childhood was happy and healthy and that her skin cancer had more to do with her complexion than anything else.
Researchers want to know why some cases are harder to cure than others.
"What we were particularly interested in was, what predicts people to have the subsequent tumor. What is it?," said Chris Fagundes, PhD of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine.
Researchers at Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center traced the history of other skin cancer patients all the way back to their childhoods.
They discovered patients who were neglected or maltreated as children, had a much higher risk for persistent skin cancer; especially when faced with stressful events as adults.
"What happens in early childhood can have significant impact when you're 65 years old. it's hard to believe, but true," said Ronald Glaser, PhD, from Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Some patients showed a 350 percent drop in their immune response suggesting that even at an early age, the stress of being mistreated can permanently affect the immune system.
"So, subsequently, when they experience stressors in adulthood, they're more reactive to them," said Fagundes.
Basal cell tumors are considered one of the most common forms of skin cancer and are less dangerous than squamous cell carcinomas or melanomas according to a release by Ohio State University.
During the study, the basal cell cancers analyzed gave researchers a clue how strong or weak a person's immune system was, which, was potentially tied to who was mostly likely to have been mistreated as a child.
The bottom line: exposure to stress when young may alter your immune system later in life.
The study is in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
