Adverse Childhood Experience Scoring Systems (ACES)

A mystery begged to be solved In 1985, Dr. Vincent Felitti, chief of Kaiser Permanente’s revolutionary Department of Preventive Medicine in San Diego, CA, could not figure out why more than half of the people in his obesity clinic dropped out each year for five years straight. Felitti’s mystery turned into a 25-year quest involving researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and more than 17,000 members of Kaiser Permanente’s San Diego care program. Kaiser Permanente in San Diego was a perfect place to do a mega-study. More than 50,000 members came through the department each year. Every single one filled out a detailed medical questionnaire prior to undergoing a complete physical examination and extensive laboratory tests. It would be easy to simply add another set of questions.