ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2020
Not the Root of the Problem-Hair Cortisol and Cortisone Do Not Mediate the Effect of Child Maltreatment on Body Mass Index.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cross-sectional relation of long-term glucocorticoids in hair with anthropometric measurements and their possible determinants: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2022Pooled it
- Longitudinal Examination of Hair Cortisol Concentrations and Weight Changes in Preschool-Aged Children of Latino Farmworkers.Childhood obesity (Print) · 2023Trial
- Does cortisol mediate the association between school bullying and weight status in preadolescents?European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and depressive symptoms as pathways from child abuse to obesity.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Article
- Association between childhood maltreatment, stressful life events and hair cortisol concentration in late midlife: A prospective investigation.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2025Article
- Hair cortisol as a marker of stress in mild traumatic brain injury: a challenging measure.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The effect of maternal childhood maltreatment on postpartum mother-child bonding and maternal hair glucocorticoids.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Article
- More Than What You Eat: A Review on the Association Between Childhood Maltreatment and Elevated Adult BMI.Current nutrition reports · 2024Review
- Child maltreatment affects fathers' response to infant crying, not mediated by cortisol or testosterone.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2021Article
- Body Mass Index and Its Association with Genetically Transmitted Traits.BioMed research international · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundExperiencing maltreatment during childhood exerts substantial stress on the child and increases the risk for overweight and obesity later in life. The current study tests whether hair cortisol-a measure of chronic stress-and its metabolite cortisone mediate the relation between abuse and neglect on the one hand, and body mass index (BMI) on the other.
methodThe sample consisted of 249 participants aged 8 to 87 years (M = 36.13, SD = 19.33). We collected data on child abuse and neglect using questionnaires, measured cortisol and cortisone concentrations in hair, and BMI. In a structural model, the effects of abuse and neglect on hair cortisol, hair cortisone, and BMI were tested, as well as the covariance between hair cortisol and BMI, and hair cortisone and BMI.
resultsWithin the sample, 23% were overweight but not obese and 14% were obese. Higher levels of experienced abuse were related to higher cortisone concentrations in hair (β = 0.24,
conclusionThese findings confirm that experiencing abuse is related to higher BMI but suggest that hair cortisol and cortisone are not the mechanism underlying the association between child maltreatment and BMI. This is the first study to show abuse may be associated to elevated concentrations of hair cortisone-evidence of long-term alterations in chronic stress levels. Future research may benefit from exploring the effects of maltreatment on weight gain in longitudinal designs, including measures of other potential mediators such as eating as a coping mechanism, and more direct indicators of metabolic health.
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