Childhood maltreatment in patients with mental illness as a risk factor for obesity

Mental illness increases risk for obesity which is often attributed to medications. We assessed the impact of childhood maltreatment on body-mass-index (BMI) and obesity in N = 261 adult psychiatric inpatients and N = 81 controls. There was an increased risk for obesity in psychiatric inpatients compared to controls. Conditioned random forest regression revealed parental abuse at ages 4-5 and peer-related violence at 7-13 as crucial factors in BMI elevation among individuals with mental illness, while type of psychiatric diagnoses, and use of psychotropics were not. Recognizing this link may aid in understanding the mechanisms and the development of strategies to mitigate the risk.