Chronic stress and impulsive risk-taking predict increases in visceral fat over 18 months

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether baseline chronic stress and impulsive risk-taking synergistically predict changes in visceral fat among healthy mothers in an observational, longitudinal, 18-month study. METHODS: A prospective cohort of 113 adult women (age M±SD: 42.83±4.70; BMI M±SD: 24.86±4.32; 74% (n=84 White) completed assessments at baseline and 18-month follow-up. We compared chronically stressed mothers caring for a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD; ‘caregivers’; n=72 participants) with lower stress mothers caring for a neurotypical child (‘controls’; n=41). We objectively assessed impulsive risk-taking using the Behavioral Analog Risk Task (BART) at baseline and assessed visceral fat at each baseline and 18-month follow-up using bioelectrical impedance (ViScan). RESULTS: The interaction of baseline chronic caregiving stress and impulsive risk-taking predicted 18-month change in visceral fat, such that greater impulsive risk-taking was associated with greater 18-month increases in visceral fat among caregivers (β=.423, p=.005), but not among controls (β=−.030, p=.802), both in unadjusted models and after accounting for covariates. Neither chronic stress nor impulsive risk-taking independently predicted 18-month changes in visceral fat. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of high chronic stress and high impulsive risk-taking may increase risk for visceral fat gain over time and therefore may be an important intervention target in obesity prevention.