Association Between Childhood Trauma and Anhedonia-Related Symptoms: The Mediation Role of Trait Anhedonia and Circulating Proteins.

Abstract

Background: Though accumulating evidence suggests an association between childhood trauma and anhedonia, further analysis is needed to consider specific traumatic dimensions, both traits and state anhedonia, and the role of circulating proteins. Therefore, this study investigated the association between different types of childhood traumas and their influence on anhedonia-related symptoms, and to evaluate the influence of anhedonia traits and plasma proteins as mediators.

Methods: This study included 170 patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and healthy controls aged 19-65 years. Multiple reaction monitoring was performed to quantify plasma proteins, and 464 proteins were analyzed. The association between childhood trauma dimensions, anhedonic traits, and related symptoms was analyzed with linear regression. A series of mediation analyses was performed to determine whether anhedonic traits and plasma proteins mediated the association between childhood trauma and anhedonia-related symptoms.

Results: Childhood emotional neglect was significantly associated with anhedonic traits and anhedonia-related symptoms. Mediation analysis revealed that the indirect effect of anhedonic traits for childhood emotional neglect on anhedonia-related symptoms (effect = 0.037; bias-corrected CI, 0.009 to 0.070) was statistically significant. The indirect effect of plasma TNR5 for anhedonic traits on anhedonia-related symptoms was statistically significant (effect = -0.011; bias-corrected CI, -0.026 to -0.002). Serial mediation analysis revealed that the indirect effect of childhood emotional neglect on anhedonia-related symptoms via anhedonic traits and TNR5 was statistically significant (effect = 0.007; bias-corrected CI, 0.001 to 0.017).

Conclusion: Anhedonic traits and plasma TNR5 protein levels serially mediated the association between childhood emotional neglect and anhedonia-related symptoms. The study highlights the importance of considering both psychopathological traits and biological correlates when investigating the association between childhood trauma and psychopathological symptoms.