Preprint: Epigenetic Responses to Abusive versus Accidental Injuries in Children: A Cross-sectional Epigenome Wide Association Meta-analysis

WHY IT MATTERS

If validated, this epigenetic signature could provide doctors with an objective biological marker to help distinguish abuse from accidental injury in children presenting with traumatic injuries, potentially improving identification and intervention in suspected maltreatment cases.

Researchers studied how child abuse and accidental injuries affect DNA in different ways. They looked at saliva samples from children with injuries and used advanced technology to find specific DNA changes that appear in abused children but not in those with accidental injuries. This research could help doctors identify abuse cases earlier and understand how trauma affects children's bodies at a biological level.

Epigenetic Responses to Abusive versus Accidental Injuries in Children: A Cross-sectional Epigenome Wide Association Meta-analysis Authors: Campbell, K. A. et al. Server: medRxiv Category: pediatrics Abstract: Child maltreatment is a pervasive problem leading to increased morbidity and mortality across the lifespan, potentially propagated by DNA methylation (DNAm) changes. We conducted an EWAS meta-analysis (n=175, 554,979 Illumina EPICv1/EPICv2 sites) in buccal swabs from three hospital-based studies of young children with traumatic injuries, stratified by study group to include 1) any traumatic injury, 2) fractures, and 3) traumatic brain injuries. Empirical bayes-moderated linear models tested differential DNAm with M-values. We identified abuse-associated pathways with rank-based promoter gene s