California Surgeon General Diana Ramos, MD, called on future physicians to incorporate the identification and treatment of Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs as a core part of disease treatment.
ACEs are self-reported by patients and measured on a scale from 1 to 10. Each time an individual reports on the questionnaire they experienced a significant form of trauma before 18, a point rises. Sixty-one percent of adults have a score of at least one ACE, according to the CDC, and around 17 percent have at least four. The higher the score on the scale is for an individual, the more likely they are to be at risk for "injury, sexually transmitted infections, maternal and child health problems, involvement in sex trafficking, and a wide range of chronic diseases and leading causes of death such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and suicide," the CDC states.
"You can decrease depressive disorders by 44 percent just by addressing ACEs," Dr. Ramos said during a May 16 talk to the Latino Medical Student Association at the University of California, Davis.
"The most critically important thing that we always talk about is, how do we treat disease, right? What can we do to help our patients? Well, wouldn't it be wonderful if we can even prevent the disease from happening?" she said. "This is exactly what treating ACEs does."