Abstract
Background: Women's experience of childhood adversity may contribute to their children's risk of obesity. Possible causal pathways include higher maternal weight and gestational weight gain, which have been associated with both maternal childhood adversity and obesity in offspring. Methods: This study included 6718 mother-child pairs from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 in the United States (1979-2012). We applied multiple log-binomial regression models to estimate associations between three markers of childhood adversity (physical abuse, household alcoholism, and household mental illness) and offspring obesity in childhood. We estimated natural direct effects to evaluate mediation by prepregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain. Results: Among every 100 mothers who reported physical abuse in childhood, there were 3.7 (95% confidence interval: -0.1 to 7.5) excess cases of obesity in 2- to 5-year olds compared with mothers who did not report physical abuse. Differences in prepregnancy BMI, but not gestational weight gain, accounted for 25.7% of these excess cases. There was no evidence of a similar relationship for household alcoholism or mental illness or for obesity in older children. Conclusions: In this national, prospective cohort study, prepregnancy BMI partially explained an association between maternal physical abuse in childhood and obesity in preschool-age children. These findings underscore the importance of life-course exposures in the etiology of child obesity and the potential multi-generational consequences of child abuse. Research is needed to determine whether screening for childhood abuse and treatment of its sequelae could strengthen efforts to prevent obesity in mothers and their children.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 259-266 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Childhood Obesity |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 1 2017 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- Adult survivors of child adverse events
- Child
- Child abuse
- Pediatric obesity
- Physical abuse
- Preschool obesity/etiology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
- Nutrition and Dietetics
Cite this
}
Maternal History of Child Abuse and Obesity Risk in Offspring : Mediation by Weight in Pregnancy. / Leonard, Stephanie A.; Petito, Lucia Catherine; Rehkopf, David H.; Ritchie, Lorrene D.; Abrams, Barbara.
In: Childhood Obesity, Vol. 13, No. 4, 01.08.2017, p. 259-266.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Maternal History of Child Abuse and Obesity Risk in Offspring
T2 - Mediation by Weight in Pregnancy
AU - Leonard, Stephanie A.
AU - Petito, Lucia Catherine
AU - Rehkopf, David H.
AU - Ritchie, Lorrene D.
AU - Abrams, Barbara
PY - 2017/8/1
Y1 - 2017/8/1
N2 - Background: Women's experience of childhood adversity may contribute to their children's risk of obesity. Possible causal pathways include higher maternal weight and gestational weight gain, which have been associated with both maternal childhood adversity and obesity in offspring. Methods: This study included 6718 mother-child pairs from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 in the United States (1979-2012). We applied multiple log-binomial regression models to estimate associations between three markers of childhood adversity (physical abuse, household alcoholism, and household mental illness) and offspring obesity in childhood. We estimated natural direct effects to evaluate mediation by prepregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain. Results: Among every 100 mothers who reported physical abuse in childhood, there were 3.7 (95% confidence interval: -0.1 to 7.5) excess cases of obesity in 2- to 5-year olds compared with mothers who did not report physical abuse. Differences in prepregnancy BMI, but not gestational weight gain, accounted for 25.7% of these excess cases. There was no evidence of a similar relationship for household alcoholism or mental illness or for obesity in older children. Conclusions: In this national, prospective cohort study, prepregnancy BMI partially explained an association between maternal physical abuse in childhood and obesity in preschool-age children. These findings underscore the importance of life-course exposures in the etiology of child obesity and the potential multi-generational consequences of child abuse. Research is needed to determine whether screening for childhood abuse and treatment of its sequelae could strengthen efforts to prevent obesity in mothers and their children.
AB - Background: Women's experience of childhood adversity may contribute to their children's risk of obesity. Possible causal pathways include higher maternal weight and gestational weight gain, which have been associated with both maternal childhood adversity and obesity in offspring. Methods: This study included 6718 mother-child pairs from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 in the United States (1979-2012). We applied multiple log-binomial regression models to estimate associations between three markers of childhood adversity (physical abuse, household alcoholism, and household mental illness) and offspring obesity in childhood. We estimated natural direct effects to evaluate mediation by prepregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain. Results: Among every 100 mothers who reported physical abuse in childhood, there were 3.7 (95% confidence interval: -0.1 to 7.5) excess cases of obesity in 2- to 5-year olds compared with mothers who did not report physical abuse. Differences in prepregnancy BMI, but not gestational weight gain, accounted for 25.7% of these excess cases. There was no evidence of a similar relationship for household alcoholism or mental illness or for obesity in older children. Conclusions: In this national, prospective cohort study, prepregnancy BMI partially explained an association between maternal physical abuse in childhood and obesity in preschool-age children. These findings underscore the importance of life-course exposures in the etiology of child obesity and the potential multi-generational consequences of child abuse. Research is needed to determine whether screening for childhood abuse and treatment of its sequelae could strengthen efforts to prevent obesity in mothers and their children.
KW - Adult survivors of child adverse events
KW - Child
KW - Child abuse
KW - Pediatric obesity
KW - Physical abuse
KW - Preschool obesity/etiology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85025142943&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85025142943&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1089/chi.2017.0019
DO - 10.1089/chi.2017.0019
M3 - Article
C2 - 28440693
AN - SCOPUS:85025142943
VL - 13
SP - 259
EP - 266
JO - Childhood Obesity
JF - Childhood Obesity
SN - 2153-2168
IS - 4
ER -