Adverse Childhood Effect Study with Dr. Vincent Felitti

Dr. Felitti is the co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study. ACE is a major, ongoing, retrospective and prospective study involving over 17,000 middle-class Americans. The study looks at categories of adverse childhood experiences and their relationship to adult health, well-being and social functioning. The Adverse Childhood Effects (ACE) Study has major implications: all patients should be routinely screened for adverse childhood experiences; a childhood trauma history may be very relevant to both serious illness and vague somatic complaints; and appropriate approaches to treatment must include dealing with childhood trauma. Additional data suggest that evaluating patients for ACEs is also cost-effective. According to data collected from over 17,000 Kaiser patients, adverse childhood experiences, though well concealed, are unexpectedly common, have a profound negative effect on adult health and well-being a half century later, and are a prime determinant of adult health status in the United States.