Adverse Childhood Experiences and Obesity: A One-to-One Correlation?

Abstract

Introduction Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated with physical and emotional problems such as obesity and depression in adulthood. This study evaluated the relationship between ACE scores and the severity of obesity. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study of 119 adult patients at the GW Weight Management Clinic. They filled out an ACE survey examining trauma and household dysfunction. The main outcome was the severity of obesity measured by Body Mass Index (BMI). We estimated the adjusted mean difference between high and low ACE risk groups using - linear regression. Results The data suggest a positive relationship between ACE score and BMI. Patients with severe obesity are more likely to be a high ACE risk (50%) compared to others (24–25%). The average BMI in the high ACE risk group is 3.64 (95% CI: 0.25–7.03) higher than those in the low ACE risk group. The linear regression also showed that as the ACE score increased by 1, BMI increased by 1 unit (95% CI: 0.15–1.77). Conclusions Our findings suggest ACE is not just related with the prevalence of obesity, but also the severity of obesity in the overweight and obese population. The linear regression also showed that as the ACE score increased by 1, the BMI increased by 1 unit as well.

Exploring the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Health-Related Behaviours: A Person-Centred Analysis of Two British Longitudinal Cohort Studies

“…According to the theory of latent vulnerability, exposure to ACEs results in neurocognitive alterations that confer short term benefits in the adverse environment but may increase the risk of developing a mental illness when exposed to stress during adulthood and adolescence, depending on the individual and/or familial factors that provide resilience or increase the risk of developing mental illness (McCroy & Viding, 2015). Prior research has shown that individuals with a history of ACEs show disrupted emotion regulation and heightened feelings of negative affect in response to stress, suggesting that this population may be more susceptible to engaging in maladaptive health behaviours, like drinking, smoking and overeating in order to alleviate psychological distress (McLaughlin et al, 2015; Sacco et al, 2017; Mahmood et al, 2022). Additionally, Sullivan et al (2019) found that ACEs were associated with chronic sleep shortages, suggesting that the neuroadaptations resulting from ACEs also have a detrimental impact on sleep.…”

Adverse childhood experiences, low self‐esteem, and salient stimulus response in eating disorders

“…Addressing childhood maltreatment has since become a public health priority (Bhushan et al., 2020). Most recently, a study found that ACEs were related to not only obesity but also the severity of obesity (Mahmood et al., 2022); traumatic experiences were linked to inflammation, hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis reactivity, alterations in functional connectivity of the brain, and sleep disturbance—all potential pathways that could contribute to altered brain response to food stimuli and dysregulated eating behaviour (Wiss & Brewerton, 2020).…”