Effects of childhood development on late-life mental disorders.
OBJECTIVE
To explore recent findings bridging childhood development and common late-life mental disorders in the elderly.


RESULTS
We addressed aging as a part of the developmental process in central nervous system, typical and atypical neurodevelopment focusing on genetic and environmental risk factors and their interplay and links between psychopathology from childhood to the elderly, unifying theoretical perspectives and preventive intervention strategies.


CONCLUSIONS
Current findings suggest that childhood development is strictly connected to psychiatric phenotypes across the lifespan. Although we are far from a comprehensive understanding of mental health trajectories, some initial findings document both heterotypic and homotypic continuities from childhood to adulthood and from adulthood to the elderly. Our review also highlights the urgent need for investigations on preventive interventions in individuals at risk for mental disorders.
Salum
Giovanni A
GA
aNational Institute for Developmental Psychiatry for Childhood and Adolescence (INCT-CNPq), Brazil, São Paulo, Brazil. gsalumjr@gmail.com
Polanczyk
Guilherme V
GV
Miguel
Eurípedes C
EC
Rohde
Luis A P
LA
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D052636:Allostasis / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D012307:Risk Factors