title: Children First Study: how an educational program in cardiovascular prevention at school can improve parents' cardiovascular risk.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether a multidisciplinary educational program (EP) in cardiovascular prevention (CVP) for children could improve the Framingham cardiovascular risk (FCR) of their parents after one year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This was a prospective community-based study in Brazil during 2010 that randomized students aged 6 to 10 years old to two different approaches to receiving healthy lifestyle information. The control group received written educational material (EM) for their parents about healthy lifestyle. The intervention group received the same EM for parents, and children were exposed to a weekly EP in CVP with a multidisciplinary health team. At onset and end of the study, we collected data from parents and children (weight, height, arterial blood pressure, and laboratory tests). We studied 197 children and 323 parents. Analyzing the parents' FCR we found that 9.3% of the control group and 6.8% of the intervention group had more than a 10% year risk of cardiovascular heart disease (CHD) over the next 10 years. After the children's EP for the year, the intervention group had a reduction of 91% in the intermediate/high FCR group compared with a 13% reduction in the control group, p = 0.002). In the same way, analyzing the FCR of all parents, there was a reduction of the average risk in the intervention group (3.6% to 2.8% respectively, p < 0.001) compared with the control group (4.4% to 4.4%, p = 0.98).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An educational program in cardiovascular prevention directed at school-age children can reduce the FCR risk of their parents, especially in the intermediate/high risk categories.
authors.affiliation: Heart Institute (InCor) University of Sao Paulo Faculty of Medicine Clinics Hospital, Sao Paulo - SP, Brazil. Luciana.fornari@uol.com.br
authors.forename: Luciana S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Fornari
authors.forename: Isabela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Giuliano
authors.forename: Fernanda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pastana
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vieira
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Caramelli
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D062186:Arterial Pressure; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001835:Body Weight; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010174:Pamphlets; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D016540:Smoking Cessation
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers