The weight of traumatic stress: a prospective study of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and weight status in women.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) indicates a chronic stress reaction in response to trauma. This prevalent condition has been identified as a possible risk factor for obesity. Whether PTSD symptoms alter the trajectory of weight gain or constitute a comorbid condition has not been established.

Objective

To determine whether women who develop PTSD symptoms are subsequently more likely to gain weight and become obese relative to trauma-exposed women who do not develop PTSD symptoms or women with no trauma exposure or PTSD symptoms and whether the effects are independent of depression.

Design, setting, and participants

The Nurses' Health Study II, a prospective observational study initiated in 1989 with follow-up to 2005, using a PTSD screener to measure P

SUBMITTER: Kubzansky LD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4091890 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature