Disclosures: Sophia Miryam Schüssler-Fiorenza Rose, MD, PhD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To evaluate how early life adversity affects the biological response to exercise using deep molecular profiling.

Design: Prospective Cohort Setting : University Medical Center Participants : Participants (n=36) were healthy adults.

Interventions: Participants underwent symptom-limited cardiopulmonary exercise testing using an individualized RAMP treadmill protocol to allow participants to reach their maximal exercise capacity. Intravenous blood samples were collected prior to exercise and at 2 minutes post-exercise.

Main Outcome Measures: Multiomics profiling included untargeted proteomics and metabolomics. Early life stress and adversity was measured using the Stress and Adversity Inventory (STRAIN), a validated instrument which assesses the number of stressors experienced and the perceived stressfulness of the events. Topological data analysis, a method which combines principles of topology with machine learning was used for analysis. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test statistic was used to test differences in response between groups, followed by pathway over representation analysis using Fisher’s exact test. Multiple testing correction was performed.

Results: Participants with high levels of early adversity clustered together indicating that they had similar responses to exercise which were clearly different from the responses of those with low levels of early adversity. Those with higher levels of early adversity had a greater increase of proteins involved in the ‘regulation of complement cascade’ (q-value = 9.9 x10-04) and ‘innate immune system’ (q-value = 1.3x 10-02) pathways. The metabolic pathway analysis showed differences in lipid response to exercise particularly a greater increase in fatty acids including monohydroxy (q-value = 8.7×10-6), medium (q-value = 3.5×10-2) and long chain (q-value = 6.9×10-8) fatty acids. Conclusions: There was a differential biological response to an acute exercise stressor between those with high levels of early life adversity and those with low levels. Understanding how early life stress exposures affect biological responses to current stressors and trauma is important for ameliorating the negative effects of such exposures by facilitating personalized treatments of those affected.

Level of Evidence: Level II

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/the-effect-of-early-life-stress-and-adversity-on-the-multiomics-response-to-an-exercise-stress-test/