Childhood abuse is associated with adiposity in midlife women: possible pathways through trait anger and reproductive hormones.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between childhood abuse/neglect and central adiposity and obesity in a sample of 311 women (n = 106 black, 205 white) from the Pittsburgh site of the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN).


METHODS
SWAN included a baseline measurement of women in midlife (mean age = 45.7 years) and eight follow-up visits during which waist circumference (WC) and body mass index (BMI) were measured. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire retrospectively assessed emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and emotional and physical neglect in childhood.


RESULTS
Analyses of covariance showed that women with a history of any abuse/neglect, and specifically physical and sexual abuse, had significantly higher WC and BMI at baseline than women with no abuse history. A significant interaction between abuse and BMI showed that among women with BMI of <30, any abuse/neglect and certain subtypes of abuse predicted greater increases in WC over time. Additional analyses showed that Trait Anger scores and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) attenuated cross-sectional relationships between abuse/neglect and WC and BMI.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that abused/neglected women seem to have greater anger and lower levels of SHBG, which are associated with adiposity in midlife.
Midei
Aimee J
AJ
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Matthews
Karen A
KA
Bromberger
Joyce T
JT
D050154:Adiposity; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000786:Anger; D000886:Anthropometry; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012738:Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin / Q000032:analysis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055105:Waist Circumference; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016387:Women's Health
D012738:Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin