Obesity and type 2 diabetes risk in Mid Adult Life: The role of Childhood Adversity | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

OBJECTIVE. Children who are abused as children are more likely to have poor physical health in adulthood, but less is known about other forms of childhood adversity, such as neglect and family issues, or how these affect adult health and illness. Childhood adversity has been linked to obesity and glucose control in middle adulthood, taking into account childhood characteristics and whether the associations are mediated by adult health behaviors and socioeconomic status. METHODS. 9310 people born in 1958 in Britain participated in a 45-year-old biomedical interview as part of a prospective longitudinal research. Glycosylated hemoglobin level of ≥6 was a primary endpoint, as well as overall obesity, central obesity, and total obesity at 45 years. RESULTS. Several adversities elevated the chance of obesity by 20 to 50 percent. Physical abuse, for example, had the greatest links to obesity and had glycosylated hemoglobin levels of ≥6, although these links could mostly be explained by adult mediators like adiposity. It was shown that early socioeconomic characteristics accounted for the effects of less severe emotional neglect and home environment. Adversity in childhood may lead to obesity in maturity, which can lead to type 2 diabetes later in life. Adversities, the social environment in which they arise, and the pathways from adversity to adult illness all require more study.