Published online July 2, 2007
PEDIATRICS Vol. 120 No. 1 July 2007, pp. e61-e67 (doi:10.1542/peds.2006-3058)

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Noll, J. G. Articles by Putnam, F. W. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Noll, J. G. Articles by Putnam, F. W. Related Collections Office Practice Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

ARTICLE

Obesity Risk for Female Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Prospective Study

Jennie G. Noll, PhD^a,b,c, Meg H. Zeller, PhD^a,b, Penelope K. Trickett, PhD^d and Frank W. Putnam, MD^a,e

^a Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
^b Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology
^c Center for Epidemiology and Biostatistics
^e Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
^d School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

OBJECTIVE. Efforts are under way to articulate environmental, psychosocial, and biological conditions that may predispose the development and maintenance of obesity. There is increasing evidence that adverse childhood experiences such as childhood abuse may be implicated in the development of obesity. Given the dearth of prospective evidence for this link, the objective of this study was to track body mass across development (from childhood, through adolescence, and into young adulthood [ie, ages 6–27]) in a prospective, longitudinal study of abused and nonabused female subjects.

METHODS. Height and weight were obtained for 84 female subjects with substantiated childhood sexual abuse and 89 demographically similar comparison female subjects at 6 points during development. Obesity status was examined at various stages during development, and body-mass growth trajectories were contrasted across the 2 groups. It was hypothesized that, in comparison with their nonabused peers, abused female subjects would be more likely to (1) manifest obesity by early adulthood and (2) manifest high-risk growth trajectories throughout development.

RESULTS. Obesity rates were not different across groups in childhood or adolescence. By young adulthood (ages 20–27), abused female subjects were significantly more likely to be obese (42.25%) than were comparison female subjects (28.40%). Hierarchical linear modeling growth-trajectory analyses indicated that abused female subjects, on average, acquired body mass at a significantly steeper rate from childhood through young adulthood than did comparison female subjects after controlling for minority status and parity.

CONCLUSIONS. Psychosocial difficulties (eg, depression) and psychobiological conditions (eg, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation) that have been shown to be related to both childhood abuse and obesity may help to explain these results. The identification of high-risk growth trajectories may improve health outcomes for victims. Systematic study of the mechanistic pathways and mediating processes that would help to explain the connection between childhood sexual abuse and later obesity is encouraged.

---

Key Words: abuse • childhood obesity • obesity risk

Abbreviations: CPS—child protective services • SES—socioeconomic status • CDC—Centers for Disease Control and Prevention • zBMI—CDC population BMI z scores standardized for age and gender • HLM—hierarchical linear modeling • OR—odds ratio • df—degrees of freedom • CI—confidence interval • HPA—hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal

---

Accepted Dec 14, 2006.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. L. Paras, M. H. Murad, L. P. Chen, E. N. Goranson, A. L. Sattler, K. M. Colbenson, M. B. Elamin, R. J. Seime, L. J. Prokop, and A. Zirakzadeh Sexual Abuse and Lifetime Diagnosis of Somatic Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis JAMA, August 5, 2009; 302(5): 550 - 561. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]