Examining the association of psychosocial stress and obesity in African American Adults: The Jackson Heart Study

Obesity, a major contributor to the burden of chronic disease and disability, globally affects at least 300 million adults. The lack of adequate research on the direct association between psychosocial stress and obesity, particularly among African American (AA) adults, is the impetus for this study. Objectives: To examine associations of Global Perceived Stress (GPS) with obesity and central adiposity (CA). Methods: Data were drawn from the Jackson Heart Study, a population based study of AAs in Jackson MS. GPS, an 8-item questionnaire was used to assess stress. The analytic sample of 5227, obtained after excluding missing BMI, WC and GPS data, had a mean (SD) age of 55 (13) years and 63.2% were women. Sex-stratified logistic regression models were used. Obesity was defined as BMI > 30 kg/m2 and CA was defined as WC > 102 cm for men and 89 cm for women. Results: For women, there was a significantly positive association between stress and obesity after adjustment for age (OR=1.08; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.17) and after adjustment for socioeconomic factors, dietary patterns, smoking, alcohol consumption and physical activity (OR=1.13; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.24). However, GPS was significantly and positively associated with CA in the age-adjusted model (OR=1.10 95% CI: 1.02, 1.20) but not in the multivariable adjusted model. For men, GPS was significantly and positively associated with obesity in the multivariable adjusted model (OR=1.14; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.29) but was not significantly associated with CA. Conclusion: Perceived stress differs in its relationship with obesity and CA for AA men and women.