Abstract MP44: Adolescent Team Sports Participation, Adiposity, And Inflammation Among Young Adult Child Maltreatment Survivors

Background: A body of literature shows that child maltreatment (CM) is associated with subsequent adiposity and inflammation, but few studies examine factors that buffer against these outcomes among survivors of CM. Child and adolescent team sports participation has been associated with positive mental and physical health outcomes, including decreased risk of obesity. However, it is unclear if these benefits extend to longer-term cardiometabolic outcomes in maltreated individuals, given that CM survivors often have impaired stress coping and may use obesogenic behaviors as a coping mechanism. The goal of this study was to assess, within a nationally representative sample of CM survivors, if sports team participation during adolescence is associated with decreased adiposity and inflammation in young adulthood. Methods: The analytic sample consisted of individuals who retrospectively self-reported CM (sexual, emotional, and physical abuse and neglect) in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N=3,298). We examined associations between intended team sports participation in grades 7-12 and BMI (kg/m2), waist circumference (cm), log transformed high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP; mg/L), obesity (>30 kg/m2), high waist circumference (>88.9 cm for women, >101.6 cm for men), and elevated hsCRP (>3 mg/L) at ages 24-32 using linear regression and predictive margins. Models adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, childhood household education, if raised by both biological parents, school type and size, subclinical infectious disease symptoms (hsCRP only), and BMI during adolescence. All analyses incorporated complex sample weighting. Results: 57% (1883/3298) of the sample reported plans to participate in sports teams during the school year as adolescents. The mean young adult BMI, waist circumference, and hsCRP values were 29.35 kg/m2 (SD=0.21), 98.64 cm (SD=0.50), and 4.73 mg/L (SD=0.17), respectively. In the overall sample, adolescent sports participation was inversely associated with waist circumference (B=-1.73,95% CI:-0.13, -2.13), log hsCPR (B=-0.25,95% CI:-0.13,-4.01), and elevated hsCRP (PR= 0.82,95% CI:0.74,0.92). When examining specific sports, the protective impact was especially pronounced among women who participated in track (BMI B=-2.37, 95% CI,-1.62,-3.13; waist circumference B=-5.11,95% CI:-3.14,-7.08; log hsCRP B=-.52,95% CI:-0.30,-0.74). Conclusions: There is evidence that team sports participation is associated with decreased adiposity and inflammation in men and women with histories of CM. Although intervention studies are needed to establish a causal relationship, these findings suggest that team sports participation during adolescence may help promote cardiometabolic health in survivors of CM.