Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences to Overweight and Obesity
Summary
The purpose of this study is to determine if there is an association between a variety of adverse childhood experiences and overweight and obesity. The adverse childhood experiences that will be examined include childhood abuse (physical, emotional, sexual), childhood neglect (physical, emotional), and household dysfunction (domestic violence, parental marital discord, and household members with a history of substance abuse, mental illness, and criminal behavior). Because this study will be performed at a military treatment facility, additional military unique experiences to include frequent residential mobility and parental deployment will also be examined.
Hypotheses/Research Questions: Overweight and obese young adults are more likely to report having experienced adverse childhood experiences and household dysfunction than their peers of normal weight. In addition, the more severely overweight or obese the patient, the more likely the patient is to report a higher number of previous adverse childhood experiences. Thus, there is a graded relationship between the severity of overweight/obesity and the number of adverse childhood experiences.
Description
Previous studies have clearly demonstrated that there is an association between childhood adversities and a variety of eating and weight problems. The research can be extended by assessing the cumulative effects of adverse childhood experiences on the severity of overweight and obesity rather than focusing on individual categories of events. In addition, we can learn much by extending the research to include all overweight and obese patients, not just those who have a known underlying comorbid psychiatric disorder such as bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder.
Lastly, the research on obesity and adverse childhood experiences should be extended to include younger subjects because obesity is now a public health problem of epidemic proportion in the United States, and it is now affecting younger and younger individuals.
The study proposed in this protocol will accomplish the goals of 1) assessing the cumulative effects of adverse childhood experiences, 2) assessing the association of these events with varying degrees of overweight and obesity, and 3) assessing this association in a younger population than that previously examined.
Study Design
Observational Model: Ecologic or Community, Time Perspective: Retrospective
Conditions
Overweight
Location
Adolescent Medicine Clinic, Brooke Army Medical Center
Fort Sam Houston
Texas
United States
78234
Status
Active, not recruiting
Source
Brooke Army Medical Center
Results (where available)
Links
- Source: http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00632346
- Information obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov on July 15, 2010
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Overweight
A status with BODY WEIGHT that is above certain standard of acceptable or desirable weight. In the scale of BODY MASS INDEX, overweight is defined as having a BMI of 25.0-29.9 kg/m2. Overweight may or may not be due to increases in body fat (ADIPOSE TISSUE), hence overweight does not equal "over fat".
Anorexia Nervosa
An eating disorder that is characterized by the lack or loss of APPETITE, known as ANOREXIA. Other features include excess fear of becoming OVERWEIGHT; BODY IMAGE disturbance; significant WEIGHT LOSS; refusal to maintain minimal normal weight; and AMENORRHEA. This disorder occurs most frequently in adolescent females. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 1994)
Body Mass Index
An indicator of body density as determined by the relationship of BODY WEIGHT to BODY HEIGHT. BMI=weight (kg)/height squared (m2). BMI correlates with body fat (ADIPOSE TISSUE). Their relationship varies with age and gender. For adults, BMI falls into these categories: below 18.5 (underweight); 18.5-24.9 (normal); 25.0-29.9 (overweight); 30.0 and above (obese). (National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Waist-hip Ratio
The waist circumference measurement divided by the hip circumference measurement. For both men and women, a waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) of 1.0 or higher is considered "at risk" for undesirable health consequences, such as heart disease and ailments associated with OVERWEIGHT. A healthy WHR is 0.90 or less for men, and 0.80 or less for women. (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2004)
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