Childhood trauma and metabolic syndrome in men and women

Abstract

The long-term effects of childhood trauma on health are well-documented, but few population-based studies have explored how childhood trauma affects the risk of developing metabolic syndrome (MetS) in adulthood. Using data from 1,234 adults in the second wave of the Midlife Development in the U.S. survey (2004), we investigate (1) the extent to which childhood abuse affects the risk of developing MetS in adulthood; (2) how the severity of different types of abuse (emotional, physical, sexual, or cumulative abuse) affects this risk; and (3) the extent to which adult socioeconomic status (SES), maladaptive stress responses, and unhealthy behaviors mediate the association. We also test whether these associations differ significantly by sex. We find that emotional and physical abuse increase the risk of developing MetS for both sexes, whereas sexual abuse is a predictor for women only. For both sexes, individuals who experienced more cumulative abuse have a greater risk of developing MetS. Adult SES partially explains the association between childhood abuse and MetS. Maladaptive stress responses and unhealthy behaviors further explain the association. Among the potential mediators, poor sleep quality was a significant pathway for men and women, while stress-induced eating was a significant pathway for women only. Our findings suggest that the well-documented health consequences of early life trauma may vary by the nature of the trauma, the victim’s sex, and the coping mechanisms that he or she employs.

Stressful life events and incident metabolic syndrome: the Hoorn study

“…Over the past 20 years, several studies have investigated the association between chronic stress and prevalent or incident metabolic syndrome (Bergmann et al, 2014;Di Castelnuovo et al, 2013;Fabre et al, 2013;Frisman & Kristenson, 2009;Goldbacher & Matthews, 2007;Hjemdahl, 2002;Horri et al, 2010;Lee et al, 2014;Puustinen et al, 2011;Pyykkonen et al, 2010;Raikkonen et al, 2007;Troxel et al, 2005;Vitaliano et al, 2002;Vogelzangs et al, 2007;Whisman & Uebelacker, 2012;Yamamoto et al, 2011). A recent meta-analysis of the only four prospective studies (Bergmann et al, 2014) that used objective stress measurements, showed that persons who experienced stressful life events had an on average two times higher probability of developing the metabolic syndrome at follow-up (Lee et al, 2014;Raikkonen et al, 2007;Troxel et al, 2005;Vitaliano et al, 2002).…”

“…A recent meta-analysis of the only four prospective studies (Bergmann et al, 2014) that used objective stress measurements, showed that persons who experienced stressful life events had an on average two times higher probability of developing the metabolic syndrome at follow-up (Lee et al, 2014;Raikkonen et al, 2007;Troxel et al, 2005;Vitaliano et al, 2002). However, these four studies have important methodological limitations: one study only involved 152 participants (Vitaliano et al, 2002), two recruited solely women or men (Raikkonen et al, 2007;Troxel et al, 2005) and one only studied early life events (Lee et al, 2014). Given these limitations, the aim of our current study was to evaluate whether the number of stressful life events is associated with incident metabolic syndrome.…”

Childhood adversity and metabolic outcomes in adults with mood disorders

“…However, this study was examining the relationship of childhood adversity in an adult population sample instead of a mood disorders sample. In another population sample study, it was also found that individuals who experienced more cumulative abuse were at greater risk for developing metabolic syndrome (Lee et al, 2014). This difference in findings may be explained in the limitation of our small sample size that may lead to lower power to detect findings.…”

“…Childhood adversity has been associated with metabolic syndrome and its components, in both community (Danese et al, 2009;Lee, Tsenkova, & Carr, 2014;Riley, Wright, Jun, Hibert, & Rich-Edwards, 2010) and clinical populations (Post et al, 2013). In the 2005 CCHS, childhood physical abuse was associated with obesity in the Canadian population (Fuller-Thomson, Sinclair, & Brennenstuhl, 2013).…”

“…A study of a community sample of 342 women found that childhood physical abuse was associated with the presence of metabolic syndrome (Midei, Matthews, Chang, & Bromberger, 2013). In another community sample of 1234 people, emotional and physical abuse was found to increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome for both sexes whereas sexual abuse was a risk factor for metabolic syndrome in only women (Lee et al, 2014). Specifically in a mood disorders population, the childhood adversity score was associated with 11 medical conditions, including hypertension (Post et al, 2013).…”