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13
Jul 22

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis attenuation and obesity risk in sexually abused females

Background: Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) confers elevated risks for obesity in females. Mechanisms that explain this link remain unclear. This study tracked serum basal cortisol levels with body mass index (BMI) from childhood into adulthood to test whether hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis attenuation accounts for elevated obesity risks for sexually abused females.

Methods: Data drew from six timepoints of a longitudinal study of the impact of CSA on development. Participants were females aged 6-16 years at time of study enrollment with substantiated CSA and demographically matched non-abused peers. Analyses included only participants who did not have obesity at study enrollment. Main outcomes were BMI growth trajectories across ages 6-27 (n = 150; 66 abused, 84 comparisons) and early adulthood obesity status (ages 20-27; n = 133; 62 abused, 71 comparison). HPA axis functioning indicators were intercept and linear slope parameters extracted from multilevel growth trajectories of serum basal cortisol levels across development. Racial-ethnic minority status, parity, steroid medication use, depression history and disordered eating history were covaried.

Results: While controlling for covariates, multilevel modeling indicated that high initial serum basal cortisol levels in childhood and attenuated cortisol growth rate over time (i.e., HPA axis attenuation) were associated with accelerated BMI accumulation (p < .01). Attenuated cortisol growth rate mediated the effect of CSA on accelerated BMI accumulation and on elevated adulthood obesity rates (p < .05).

Conclusion: This work establishes a mechanistic association between HPA axis attenuation and obesity, suggesting that trauma treatments for abuse survivors should include interventions that reduce health consequences associated with dysregulated stress physiology.

CITATION: Li, J. C., Hall, M. A., Shalev, I., Schreier, H. M. C., Zarzar, T. G., Marcovici, I., Putnam, F. W., & Noll, J. G. (2021). Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis attenuation and obesity risk in sexually abused females. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 129, 105254.

Adolescents / Family Influences / Publications / Trauma — No Comments
09
Mar 20

Is sexual abuse a unique predictor of sexual risk behaviors, pregnancy, and motherhood in adolescence?

This study tested sexual abuse as a unique predictor of subsequent adolescent sexual behaviors, pregnancy, and motherhood when in company with other types of maltreatment (physical abuse, neglect) and alternative behavioral, family, and contextual risk factors in a prospective, longitudinal study of maltreated (n = 275) and comparison (n = 239) nulliparous females aged 14-19 years old assessed annually through 19 years old. Hierarchical regression was used to disentangle risk factors that account for the associations of maltreatment type on risky sexual behaviors at 19 years old, adolescent pregnancy, and adolescent motherhood. Findings indicate that sexual and physical abuse remain significant predictors of risky sexual behaviors, and that sexual abuse remains a significant predictor of adolescent motherhood when alternative explanatory variables are controlled.

CITATION: Noll, J. G., Guastaferro, K., Beal, S. J., Schreier, H. M. C., Barnes, J., Reader, J.M., & Font, S. A. (2019). Is sexual abuse a unique predictor of sexual risk behaviors, pregnancy, and motherhood in adolescence? Journal of Research on Adolescence, 29(4), 967-983.

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