Abstract
Objective: Stress is associated with body mass gain in some people but with body mass loss in others. When the stressor persists, some people adapt with their stress responses, whereas others do not. Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects autonomic variability and is related to stress responses to psychosocial challenges. It was hypothesized that the combined effects of stress exposure and autonomic variability predict long-term changes in body form. Methods: Data of 1,369 men and 612 women from the Whitehall II cohort were analyzed. BMI, hip-to-height ratio, and waist-to-height ratio were measured at three time points over a 10-year period. HRV and psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire) were assessed. Results: Men with high psychological distress were at risk of developing an increased waist-to-height ratio (F = 3.4, P = 0.038). Men with high psychological distress and low HRV were prone to develop an increased body mass and hip-to-height ratio (psychological distress: F = 4.3, P = 0.016; HRV: F = 5.0, P = 0.008). Statistical trends showed that women displayed similar patterns of stress-related changes in body form (P = 0.061; P = 0.063). Conclusions: Assessing psychological distress and autonomic variability predicts changes in body form. Psychological distress was found to be associated with an increased risk of developing the wide-waisted phenotype, while psychological distress combined with low autonomic variability was associated with an increased risk of developing the corpulent phenotype.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Obesity |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1625-1632 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISSN | 1930-7381 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 01.09.2017 |
Funding
We thank all participants in the Whitehall II Study and the Whitehall II researchers and support staff who make this study possible. We thank Professor Meena Kumari, our Whitehall II contact researcher, for her insightful comments and criticism on our manuscript. The UK Medical Research Council (MR/K013351/1; G0902037), British Heart Foundation (RG/13/2/30098, PG/11/63/29011), and the US National Institutes of Health (R01HL36310, R01AG013196) have supported collection of data in the Whitehall II Study. This project was supported by the Graduate School for Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences funded by Germany?s Excellence Initiative (DFG GSC 235/2). This study is supported as a follow-on project of the Clinical Research Group KFO-126 founded by the German Research Foundation.
Research Areas and Centers
- Academic Focus: Center for Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM)
