Household cardiovascular screening of high-risk families: a school-based study.
BACKGROUND
A parental history of cardiovascular disease has a strong relationship with risk factor clusters in the offspring. This study was performed to identify major cardiovascular risk factors in middle school-aged children and their parents in both high and low-risk families.


METHODS
A school-based, cross-sectional study.


METHODS
The middle schools of the 6th district of Tehran were divided randomly into two groups. A total of 169 high-risk children with their families were recruited from the first group and 105 low-risk children with their families were recruited from the second group of schools. Anthropometric and metabolic measurements were performed.


RESULTS
The means of the waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio were significantly higher in high-risk fathers. The means of total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were significantly higher in both parents and children of the high-risk group. The means of the fasting plasma glucose were significantly higher in fathers and offspring of high-risk families. More fathers in high-risk families were smokers. The prevalence of increased total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and hyperglycemia (> or = 100 mg/dl) were higher in high-risk parents and children. The prevalence of increased body mass index (> or = 25 kg/m for parents and 85th percentile for children) was higher in fathers and children of high-risk families.


CONCLUSIONS
Cardiovascular risk factors are more prevalent and clustered in high-risk families. The screening of high-risk families is essential to prevent the progression of atherosclerosis from childhood and reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in adulthood.
Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Rasoul
R
Pourebrahim
Hossein
H
Fakhrzadeh
Fatemeh
F
Bandarian
Ozra
O
Tabatabaie
Masoomeh
M
Noori
Forouzan
F
Djalilpour
Farzaneh
F
Zahedi
Iman
I
Rahimi
Ramin
R
Heshmat
Ebrahim
E
Djavadi
Sara
S
Ghotbi
Bagher
B
Larijani
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D049628:Body Size; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004041:Dietary Fats; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009679:Nuclear Family; D012307:Risk Factors
D004041:Dietary Fats; D008055:Lipids