Sex and race (black-white) differences in the relationship of childhood risk factors to adulthood arterial stiffness: the Bogalusa Heart Study.
BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular risk factors in childhood are predictive of adulthood arterial stiffness. However, it is unknown whether this relationship varies by race or sex.


METHODS
Six hundred and eighty adults aged 24 to 43 had been followed for an average of 26.3 years, from the Bogalusa Heart Study. Brachial to ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) measured by an automatic oscillometric technique was used as the outcome variable for arterial stiffness during adulthood. Body mass index (BMI), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), glucose, and systolic blood pressure (SBP), all measured in childhood, were used as predictors. The average values of childhood measurements at multiple time points were used, standardized to age, race, and sex-specific z-scores.


RESULTS
In the total sample, childhood SBP was the only significant predictor (P < 0.001) for adult baPWV. Significant interactions between sex and BMI (P = 0.001), between sex and LDL-C (P = 0.035), and between race and HDL-C (P = 0.002) on adult baPWV were identified. Childhood predictors of adult baPWV were BMI (30.9 cm/s reduction in baPWV per standard deviation increase, 95% confidence interval [CI]: -55.0, -6.9 cm/s), LDL-C (30.8 cm/s increase, 95% CI: 2.9, 59.5 cm/s), and HDL-C (46.8 cm/s reduction, 95% CI: -76.2, -17.4 cm/s) in white males; SBP (38.2 cm/s increase, 95% CI: 11.0, 65.4 cm/s) in white females; BMI (71.3 cm/s reduction, 95% CI: -119.9, -22.7 cm/s) in black males; and none in black females.


CONCLUSIONS
The associations of childhood cardiovascular risk factors with adult arterial stiffness varied by race and sex.
Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health (SL, WC, MY, CF, SRS, GSB), Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana; Department of Epidemiology (SL, WC, CF, MK-W, GSB), Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana; College of Environment and Life Sciences; Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Environment and Life Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing, China (MY), Minzu University of China, Beijing, China; Department of Medicine (MK-W, GSB), Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana; Departments of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics (LW) and Pediatrics (GSB), Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana; and Ochsner Health System, New Orleans, Louisiana (MK-W).
Shengxu
S
Li
Wei
W
Chen
Miaoying
M
Yun
Camilo
C
Fernandez
Marie
M
Krousel-Wood
Larry
L
Webber
Sathanur R
SR
Srinivasan
Gerald S
GS
Berenson
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D059289:Vascular Stiffness; D044465:White People; D055815:Young Adult; D001741:Black or African American