Review Article
Association between Obesity and History of Abuse among American Indians in RuralCalifornia
| Felicia Hodge*, Susan M Stemmler and Karabi Nandy | |
| Department of Health Policy and Management, University of California, USA | |
| Corresponding Author : | Felicia Hodge Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management U California at Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA, USA Tel: (310) 267-2255 E-mail: feliciash@aol.com |
| Received January 09, 2014; Accepted February 07, 2014; Published February 10, 2014 | |
| Citation: Hodge F, Stemmler SM, Nandy K (2014) Association between Obesity and History of Abuse among American Indians in RuralCalifornia. J Obes Weight Loss Ther 4:208. doi:10.4172/2165-7904.1000208 | |
| Copyright: © 2014 Hodge F, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Objectives: To explore factors associated with obesity among American Indians. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of American Indian adults (N=459) was conductedat 13 rural reservation sites in California. Participants responded to a survey about theirhealth and wellness perceptions. The Body Mass Index (BMI) was used to assessobesity. A predictive model for BMI was built using a generalized regression model. Results: Having high blood pressure and having a history of verbal abuse in childhoodwere significant predictors of higher BMI. Participants with high blood pressure werelikely to have 3.2 units of BMI higher on average than those who do not have highblood pressure (p-value <0.0001). Similarly, those with a history of childhood verbalabuse were likely to have 1.9 units higher BMI on average compared to those with nosuch history. Having a history of diabetes or sexual abuse in childhood trend towardsincreased BMI, although not statistically significant. Conclusion: Identifying childhood trauma and its impact on adult obesity rates amongAmerican Indians provides new avenues for intervention. Efforts to reduce overweightand obesity should include culturally sensitive interventions to ameliorate and repairwhat is lost through personal violations of stigma, abuse or neglect.
