Childhood abuse leads to obesity in adult women

Women who were physically abused during childhood are more likely to be obese, a new study has revealed.

University of Toronto researchers indicated that women who were physically abused in childhood were more likely to be obese than women from non-abusive homes.

"After adjusting for age and race, childhood physical abuse was associated with 47% higher odds of obesity for women" lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Professor and Sandra Rotman Endowed Chair in the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, said.

"Among men, obesity wasn't associated with childhood physical abuse," the researcher said.

"We had anticipated that the association between childhood physical abuse and obesity among women would be explained by factors including depression and anxiety, adult socio-economic position, alcohol abuse, and other childhood adversities, such as having a parent addicted to drugs or alcohol," study co-author and doctoral student Deborah Sinclair, said.

"However, even after taking into account all these factors, women from physically abusive families still had 35 percent higher odds of obesity," she said.

The study could not determine the reason for the relationship between childhood physical abuse and women's obesity.

"It is unclear why childhood physical abuse is associated with adult obesity among women but not men; it may reflect gender differences in coping mechanisms," study co-author and doctoral candidate Sarah Brennenstuhl, said.

The research is published online in the journal Obesity Facts.