Adverse effect

Public health

Psychiatry

Computer science

Environmental health

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Database

Physical therapy

Internal medicine

Mental health

Measure (data warehouse)

Medicine

Pathology

American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Despite its usefulness in research and surveillance studies, the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) score is a relatively crude measure of cumulative childhood stress exposure that can vary widely from person to person. Unlike recognized public health screening measures, such as blood pressure or lipid levels that use measurement reference standards and cut points or thresholds for clinical decision making, the ACE score is not a standardized measure of childhood exposure to the biology of stress.

Inside the Adverse Childhood Experience Score: Strengths, Limitations, and Misapplications