Childhood abuse and neglect is associated with persevering psychological and physical consequences at the victim's expense. The phenomenon of a biological memory taken into account, there might be biological means that enable childhood maltreatment experiences not only to persist throughout life but also to be passed on intergenerationally. Methods: This thesis investigated the effects of childhood maltreatment on blood cell counts. Women at the maternity ward were interviewed with respect to

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... periences of childhood maltreatment employing the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire- Short Form. Blood was drawn from those mothers and from their newborn's umbilical cord. Results: Performing correlation analyses, it was found that the hematologic parameters of newborns are widely independent of their mothers' in this explorative study. A significant positive association between former childhood maltreatment and the maternal mean thrombocyte volume was detected conducting regression analyses. Discussion: If this effect can be replicated in future studies, an adaption of the anticoagulant therapy of women in childbed with a history of childhood maltreatment experiences should be considered.