Quality of parental emotional care and calculated risk for coronary heart disease.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate associations between perceived quality of parental emotional care and calculated 10-year risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). Little is understood about the role of parental emotional care in contributing to the risk for CHD.


METHODS
The study sample was composed of 267 participants from the New England Family Study. Quality of parental emotional care was measured, using a validated short version of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) as the average care scores for both parents (range = 0-12), with higher scores indicating greater care. Ten-year CHD risk was calculated, using the validated Framingham Risk Algorithm that incorporates the following prevalent CHD risk factors: age, sex, diabetes, smoking, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and blood pressure. Multiple linear regression assessed associations of PBI with calculated CHD risk after adjusting for childhood socioeconomic status, depressive symptomatology, educational attainment, and body mass index.


RESULTS
Among females, a 1-unit increase in the parental emotional care score resulted in a 4.6% (p = .004) decrease in the 10-year CHD risk score, after adjusting for covariates. There was no association between parental emotional care score and calculated CHD risk score in males (p = .22).


CONCLUSIONS
Quality of parental emotional care was inversely associated with calculated 10-year CHD risk in females, and not males. Although the gender differences need further investigation and these findings require replication, these results suggest that the early childhood psychosocial environment may confer risk for CHD in adulthood.
Almeida
Nisha D
ND
Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1A2. nisha.almeida@mail.mcgill.ca
Loucks
Eric B
EB
Kubzansky
Laura
L
Pruessner
Jens
J
Maselko
Joanna
J
Meaney
Michael J
MJ
Buka
Stephen L
SL
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002654:Child Care / Q000379:methods*; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009511:New England / Q000453:epidemiology; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011594:Psychometrics; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class
D008076:Cholesterol, HDL; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL