Open AccessAdverse childhood experiences and cognitive function among adults with excess adiposity
Author(s) -
Hawkins Misty,
Ciciolla Lucia,
Colaizzi Janna,
Keirns Natalie,
Smith Caitlin,
Stout Madison,
Addante Samantha,
Armans Mira,
Erato Gina
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
obesity science and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.654
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 2055-2238
DOI - 10.1002/osp4.385
Subject(s) - neurocognitive , overweight , medicine , cognition , stroop effect , body mass index , neuropsychology , clinical psychology , obesity , cognitive flexibility , cognitive test , psychiatry
Summary Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and obesity are independently associated with brain/neurocognitive health. Despite a growing emphasis on the importance of early life adversity on health, the relationship between ACEs and neurocognition in adults with overweight/obesity is unclear. The objective was to examine associations between self‐reported ACEs and measured neurocognitive domains in a sample of adults with overweight/obesity. Methods Participants were 95 predominantly white, highly educated adult women (76% female, 81% Caucasian, and 75% ≥ bachelor's degree) with excess adiposity enrolled in the Cognitive and Self‐regulatory Mechanisms of Obesity Study. ACEs and fluid/crystallized neurocognitive domains were measured at baseline using the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale and the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery and Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metric, respectively. Results Higher ACEs scores were negatively correlated with fluid cognition ( r = −.34, P < .001) but not crystallized cognition ( r = .01, ns ). Individuals with 3 and 4+ ACEs displayed significantly lower fluid cognition scores than those with fewer ACEs F 4,89 = 3.24, P < .05. After accounting for body mass index (BMI), age, sex, race, and education, higher ACEs scores were still associated with poorer performance on overall fluid cognition ( β = −.36, P < .01), along with the following subtests: Stroop Colour/Word test ( β = −.23, P < .05), Go/No‐Go omissions ( β = .29, P < .01), and Picture Sequence Memory task ( β = −.30, P < .01). Conclusions The role of ACEs in health may be related to their associations with executive function and episodic neurocognitive domains essential to cognitive processing and self‐regulation. Obesity science should further examine the role of ACEs and neurocognition in obesity prevention, prognosis, and treatment using more rigorous, prospective designs and more diverse samples.