Childhood Sexual Abuse has Lasting Effects

A University of Queensland study has found that women who experience certain types of sexual abuse (penetrative) in their youth are at increased odds of being overweight by the age of 21.

The study, which drew from the responses of 1273 men and 1305 women aged 21 years, found while there was a marked association between severe childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and greater body mass index (BMI) among women, this association did not hold for men. Lead researcher Dr Abdullah Al Mamun from the University’s School of Population Health said the study provided an important insight into possible gender differences in the way men and women deal with trauma and also gave some credence to previous theories about a relationship between CSA and greater BMI.Dr Mamun said it had previously been posited that “comfort eating” might result as an “adaptive function” after CSA or that individuals may purposefully try to alter their lifestyles to increase weight as a means of protecting themselves from further abuse.”The gender difference may reflect differences between women and men in the relationship between psychological trauma and body image,” he said.The research was conducted as part of the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), a longitudinal study of over 7000 mothers and their children born at Brisbane’s Mater Hospital in 1981-83.Dr Mamun said the large scale of the study, along with its sampling of both men and women, went a long way to address many of the limitations of previous studies.”Most of the previous studies that have claimed a possible association between CSA and adult obesity are methodically weak with respect to providing causal inference,” Dr Mamun said.”The majority have been conducted on clinically obese populations in which a higher than expected proportion report CSA; other studies have been men and women only and therefore, cannot provide information on this association in men; and finally, most studies, by epidemiological standards, have been relatively small,” he said.”This study is a community-based prospective birth cohort involving repeated assessments of children before the disclosure of CSA, making it possible to take into account prospectively measured potential confounders of any association of CSA and BMI.”Further, the study includes both men and women and the large sample size permits assessment of gender differences in the association between CSA and BMI.”Dr Mamun said the study had important implications for clinical professionals and their treatment of patients who have suffered CSA.”The study’s findings highlight the need for clinicians to be aware not only of the long-term mental health sequelae of child sexual abuse but also of the possibility of risk to physical health.””Large prospective studies are, however, required to confirm our findings and to explore the possible mechanisms for any association.”(Source: University of Queensland : November 2007)