Early-Life Home Environment and Obesity in a Mexican American Birth Cohort: The CHAMACOS Study

Associations between adverse home environments and appetite hormones, adipokines, and adiposity among Chilean adolescents

Little is known regarding the relationship between adverse home environments and hormones important in regulation of appetite and their impact on obesity in children and adolescents. In this study, we examined the impact of socioeconomic economic status, family stress and maternal depressive symptoms on appetite hormones, adipokines and adiposity. To determine whether adverse home environments in childhood and adolescence relate to adiposity in adolescence and disruptions in appetite hormones and adipokines, specifically lower levels of adiponectin and ghrelin and elevated levels of leptin and orexin. Adversity in the home (maternal depressive symptoms, family stress, socioeconomic disadvantage) was measured in the households of 593 Chilean youth at age 10 years (52.3% male) and in 606 youth at 16 years. At 16 years, participants provided fasting blood samples for assessment of adipokines and appetite hormones. Waist-to-height ratio was used to assess central adiposity. Correlational analyses examined associations between continuous levels of adversity in childhood and adolescence and appetite hormones and adiposity in adolescence. Multinomial logistic regressions compared hormone levels by tertiles of adversity. Participants were 52% male, with average age at the 16 years hormone assessment being 16.8 (n = 606, SD = 0.26). Those with highest maternal depression at age 10 had lower adiponectin OR = 0.95 [95% CI: 0.91, 0.99], p = 0.005) and ghrelin levels (OR = 0.98 [95% CI: 0.98, 1.00), p = 0.022) than those in the lowest maternal depression group at age 16. Those with the highest family stress at 16 years had lower adiponectin levels (OR = 0.93 [95% CI: 0.89, 0.98), p = 0.004) and higher central adiposity (OR = 1.05 [1.01, 1.08], p = 0.009) than the lowest family stress group. There were no significant associations found between socioeconomic status at either 10 or 16 years and appetite hormones. Results add new evidence regarding the relationship between household adversity to appetite hormones and adipokines, with the most consistent results for adiponectin. Current findings suggest that the relationship between home environment and adipokines and appetite hormones may play a role in altered adiposity in children and adolescents.