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Query: UMLS:C0028754 (obesity)
 124,988 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

One hundred significantly overweight patients sequentially applying to a very low calorie diet (VLCD) program were interviewed to learn how the onset of obesity correlated with other life events. By comparison with a control group of 100 always-slender adults, the obese applicants were found to be different at a highly significant level in the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse, nonsexual childhood abuse, early parental loss, parental alcoholism, chronic depression, and marital family dysfunction in their own adult lives. The obese patients commonly reported using obesity as a sexually protective device; many reported overeating to cope with emotional distress. Inquiry into depression, past sexual abuse, and past or present dysfunctional family life should be added to the current medical evaluation of all obese patients. The resultant findings are likely to be relevant to their treatment, whether for obesity or for other medical conditions.
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PMID:Childhood sexual abuse, depression, and family dysfunction in adult obese patients: a case control study. 820 85

This paper proposes and tests a life course model of self-rated health (SRH) extending from late childhood to young adulthood, drawing on three waves of panel data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Very little research has examined SRH during the early decades, or whether and how these self-assessments reflect experiences in the family of origin. Background characteristics (parental education, income, and family structure), parental health conditions (asthma, diabetes, obesity, migraines), and early health challenges (physical abuse, presence of a disability, and parental alcoholism and smoking) predict SRH from adolescence to young adulthood. These experiences in the family-of-origin are substantially mediated by the young person's health and health behaviors (as indicated by obesity, depression, smoking, drinking, and inactivity), although direct effects remain (especially for early health challenges). Associations between SRH and these mediators (especially obesity) strengthen with age. In turn, efforts to promote healthy behaviors in young adulthood, after the completion of secondary school, may be especially strategic in the promotion of health in later adulthood.
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PMID:A life course model of self-rated health through adolescence and young adulthood. 2272 20