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. 2018:52:61.
doi: 10.11606/s1518-8787.2018052000161. Epub 2018 May 17.

Impact of stressful life events on central adiposity in the Pelotas Birth Cohort

Pamela J Surkan  1 , Kwame S Sakyi  1 , Alice Hu  1 , Maria T Olinto  2 , Helen Gonçalves  3 , Bernardo L Horta  3 , Denise P Gigante  3
Affiliations

Impact of stressful life events on central adiposity in the Pelotas Birth Cohort

Pamela J Surkan et al. Rev Saude Publica. 2018.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate how stressful life events and social support relate to central adiposity in Southern Brazil.

Methods: Data included information from 802 participants in the 1982 Pelotas Birth Cohort that was collect in 2004-2005 and 2006. Stratifying by sex, we studied self-reported stressful life events during the year before 2004-2005 in relation to change in waist circumference between 2004-2005 and 2006 and waist-to-hip ratio in 2006, using both bivariate and multivariate linear regression models.

Results: In adjusted models, the experience of stressful life events during the year before 2004-2005 predicted a change in waist circumference in 2006 in men and a change in both waist-to-hip ratio in 2006 and waist circumference between 2004-2005 and 2006 in women. Men who experienced two or more stressful events had on average a one centimeter increase in their waist circumference between 2004-2005 and 2006 (β = 0.97, 95%CI 0.02-1.92), compared to those reporting no stressful events. For women, those who had one and those who had two or more stressful life events had over a 1 cm increase in their waist circumference from 2004-2005 to 2006 (β = 1.37, 95%CI 0.17-2.54; β = 1.26, 95%CI 0.11-2.40, respectively), compared to those who did not experience any stressful event. For both sexes, social support level was not significantly related to either waist-to-hip ratio or change in waist circumference, and it did not modify the association between stress and central adiposity.

Conclusions: The experience of more than one stressful life event was associated with distinct indicators of central adiposity for men versus women.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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