Women are much more likely to be obese if they were physically abused as children, a new study indicates.

Canadian scientists looked at the link between this kind of abuse in childhood and later obesity in over 12,500 adults. Among these, almost 1,000 said that they had been physically abused by someone close to them before they reached the age of 18.

Over 2,700 of the participants were classified as obese.

The study found that those who had been physically abused in childhood were more likely to be obese.

"After adjusting for age and race, childhood physical abuse was associated with 47% higher odds of obesity for women. Among men, obesity wasn't associated with childhood physical abuse," explained lead study author, Prof Esme Fuller-Thomson of the University of Toronto.

The scientists said that they had assumed that this link between child physical abuse and adult obesity ‘would be explained by factors including depression and anxiety, adult socio-economic position, alcohol abuse and other childhood adversities, such as having a parent addicted to drugs or alcohol.

"However, even after taking into account all these factors, women from physically abusive families still had 35% higher odds of obesity," they noted.

The study was unable to determine why this link exists.

"It is unclear why childhood physical abuse is associated with adult obesity among women but not men. It may reflect gender differences in coping mechanisms," the team suggested.

Details of these findings are published in the journal, Obesity Facts.