A new report from the New Jersey Hospital Association examines the impact that childhood traumas can have on health status later in life.

The report on Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, among New Jersey patients finds that:

• Patients with ACEs experienced worse health outcomes.
• Patients with ACEs experienced greater incidence of mental health and substance misuse issues compared with others.
• The share of patients with documented ACEs is growing.

NJHA’s study, prepared by its Center for Health Analytics, Research and Transformation (CHART), is based on Hospital Discharge Data collected from 2016 to 2023. Diagnosis codes were reviewed to identify experiences during youth such as emotional, physical or sexual abuse; and household dysfunction such as violence/battering, substance abuse, mental illness, incarceration and parental separation or divorce.

The data showed that the percent of hospital inpatients with ACEs has increased between 2016 and 2023 for both males (from 0.51% of patients to 1.21%) and females (from 0.36% to 1.19%). While the increase was observed across all races and ethnicities, Hispanics had the highest percentage of ACEs through 2021 (ranging from .75% to 1.00%), but in 2023 whites had the highest percentage of ACEs across all races and ethnicities, at 1.29%. Asians had the lowest percentage of ACEs.

The data also shows a connection between ACEs and experiences of violence and behavioral health issues. Hospital inpatients with ACEs were substantively more likely to be diagnosed with behavioral health issues – 74.9% with ACEs compared with 37.3% without, based on 2023 data.

Over the study period, the percentage of hospitalized adults with ACEs who experienced tendencies toward violence ranges from 1.1% to 2.0% - while just 0.3% for those without ACEs.

“Health status is influenced by experiences, environment and other external factors throughout our lifetimes,” said NJHA President and CEO Cathy Bennett. “By providing insight into the complex and fragile nature of health, this report can help healthcare professionals, public health and other partners support identification, awareness, resilience and healing for those who experience adversity early in life.”

The complete report can be found at www.njha.com/CHART.