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Background: Elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is a common risk factor for cardiovascular disease outcomes with unknown mechanisms. We examined its potential role in identifying youths who are at increased risk of developing adult atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). Methods: Lp(a) levels measured in youth 9 to 24 years of age were linked to adult ASCVD and carotid intima-media thickness in the YFS (Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study), in which 95 of the original 3596 participants (2.7%) recruited as children have been diagnosed with ASCVD at a median of 47 years of age. Results observed in YFS were replicated with the use of data for White participants from the BHS (Bogalusa Heart Study). In BHS, 587 White individuals had data on youth Lp(a) (measured at 8–17 years of age) and information on adult events, including 15 cases and 572 noncases. Analyses were performed with the use of Cox proportional hazard regression. Results: In YFS, those who had been exposed to high Lp(a) level in youth [defined as Lp(a) ≥30 mg/dL] had ≈2 times greater risk of developing adult ASCVD compared with nonexposed individuals (hazard ratio, 2.0 [95% CI, 1.4–2.6]). Youth risk factors, including Lp(a), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, and smoking, were all independently associated with higher risk. In BHS, in an age- and sex-adjusted model, White individuals who had been exposed to high Lp(a) had 2.5 times greater risk (95% CI, 0.9–6.8) of developing adult ASCVD compared with nonexposed individuals. When also adjusted for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and body mass index, the risk associated with high Lp(a) remained unchanged (hazard ratio, 2.4 [95% CI, 0.8–7.3]). In a multivariable model for pooled data, individuals exposed to high Lp(a) had 2.0 times greater risk (95% CI, 1.0–3.7) of developing adult ASCVD compared with nonexposed individuals. No association was detected between youth Lp(a) and adult carotid artery thickness in either cohort or pooled data. Conclusions: Elevated Lp(a) level identified in youth is a risk factor for adult atherosclerotic cardiovascular outcomes but not for increased carotid intima-media thickness.

Background: Data suggest that the prediction of adult cardiovascular disease using a model comprised entirely of adult nonlaboratory-based risk factors is equivalent to an approach that additionally incorporates adult lipid measures. We assessed and compared the utility of a risk model based solely on nonlaboratory risk factors in adolescence versus a lipid model based on nonlaboratory risk factors plus lipids for predicting high-risk carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in adulthood. Methods: The study comprised 2893 participants 12 to 18 years of age from 4 longitudinal cohort studies from the United States (Bogalusa Heart Study and the Insulin Study), Australia (Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study), and Finland (The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study) and followed into adulthood when cIMT was measured (mean follow-up, 23.4 years). Overweight status was defined according to the Cole classification. Hypertension was defined according to the Fourth Report on High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents from the National High Blood Pressure Education Program. High-risk plasma lipid levels were defined according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Cholesterol Levels in Children. High cIMT was defined as a study-specific value ≥90th percentile. Age and sex were included in each model. Results: In univariate models, all risk factors except for borderline high and high triglycerides in adolescence were associated with high cIMT in adulthood. In multivariable models (relative risk [95% confidence interval]), male sex (2.7 [2.0–2.6]), prehypertension (1.4 [1.0–1.9]), hypertension (1.9 [1.3–2.9]), overweight (2.0 [1.4–2.9]), obesity (3.7 [2.0–7.0]), borderline high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.6 [1.2–2.2]), high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.6 [1.1–2.1]), and borderline low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.4 [1.0–1.8]) remained significant predictors of high cIMT ( P P =0.02). Conclusions: Nonlaboratory-based risk factors and lipids measured in adolescence independently predicted preclinical atherosclerosis in young adulthood. The addition of lipid measurements to traditional clinic-based risk factor assessment provided a statistically significant but clinically modest improvement on adolescent prediction of high cIMT in adulthood.

Background— The American Heart Association (AHA) defined a new concept, cardiovascular health, and determined metrics needed to monitor it over time as part of its 2020 Impact Goal definition. Ideal cardiovascular health is defined by the presence of both ideal health behaviors and ideal health factors. The applicability of this concept to a cohort of children and its relationship with cardiometabolic outcomes in adulthood has not been reported. Methods and Results— The sample comprised 856 participants aged 12 to 18 years (mean age 15.0 years) from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study cohort. Participants were followed up for 21 years since baseline (1986) and had data available concerning health factors and behaviors in childhood and cardiometabolic outcomes in adulthood (2007). The number of ideal cardiovascular health metrics present in childhood was associated with reduced risk of hypertension (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] 0.66 [0.52–0.85], P P P =0.001), and high-risk carotid artery intima-media thickness (0.75 [0.60–0.94], P =0.01) in adulthood. All analyses were age and sex adjusted, and the results were not altered after additional adjustment with socioeconomic status. Conclusions— The number of ideal cardiovascular health metrics present in childhood predicts subsequent cardiometabolic health in adulthood. Our findings suggest that pursuit of ideal cardiovascular health in childhood is important to prevent cardiometabolic outcomes in adulthood.

Background— The relationships between childhood lifestyle risk factors and adulthood pulse wave velocity (PWV) have not been reported. We studied whether childhood and adulthood lifestyle risk factors are associated with PWV assessed in adulthood. Methods and Results— The study cohort comprised 1622 subjects of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study followed up for 27 years since baseline (1980; aged 3 to 18 years) with lifestyle risk factor data available since childhood. Arterial PWV was measured in 2007 by whole-body impedance cardiography device. Vegetable consumption in childhood was inversely associated with adulthood PWV (β=−0.06, P =0.02), and this association remained significant (β=−0.07, P =0.004) when adjusted for traditional risk factors (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, and smoking). Vegetable consumption was also an independent predictor of PWV in adulthood when adjusted for lifestyle or traditional risk factors (β=−0.08, P =0.002 and β=−0.07, P =0.0007, respectively). Persistently high consumption of both fruits and vegetables from childhood to adulthood was associated with lower PWV compared with persistently low consumption ( P =0.03 for both). The number of lifestyle risk factors (the lowest quintile for vegetable consumption, fruit consumption, physical activity, and smoking) in childhood was directly associated with PWV in adulthood ( P =0.001). This association remained significant when adjusted for the number of lifestyle risk factors in adulthood ( P =0.003). Conclusions— These findings suggest that lifetime lifestyle risk factors, with low consumption of fruits and vegetables in particular, are related to arterial stiffness in young adulthood.

Background— The American Heart Association has defined a new metric of ideal cardiovascular health as part of its 2020 Impact Goals. We examined whether psychosocial factors in youth predict ideal cardiovascular health in adulthood. Methods and Results— Participants were 477 men and 612 women from the nationwide Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study. Psychosocial factors were measured from cohorts 3 to 18 years of age at the baseline of the study, and ideal cardiovascular health was examined 27 years later in adulthood. The summary measure of psychosocial factors in youth comprised socioeconomic factors, emotional factors, parental health behaviors, stressful events, self-regulation of the child, and social adjustment of the child. There was a positive association between a higher number of favorable psychosocial factors in youth and greater ideal cardiovascular health index in adulthood (β=0.16; P P P P =0.004) were the strongest predictors of ideal cardiovascular health in adulthood. Conclusions— The findings suggest a dose-response association between favorable psychosocial factors in youth and cardiovascular health in adulthood, as defined by the American Heart Association metrics. The effect seems to persist throughout the range of cardiovascular health, potentially shifting the population distribution of cardiovascular health rather than simply having effects in a high-risk population.

Background— Hypertension is a major modifiable cardiovascular risk factor. The present longitudinal study aimed to examine the best combination of childhood physical and environmental factors to predict adult hypertension and furthermore whether newly identified genetic variants for blood pressure increase the prediction of adult hypertension. Methods and Results— The study cohort included 2625 individuals from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study who were followed up for 21 to 27 years since baseline (1980; age, 3–18 years). In addition to dietary factors and biomarkers related to blood pressure, we examined whether a genetic risk score based on 29 newly identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms enhances the prediction of adult hypertension. Hypertension in adulthood was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥130 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥85 mm Hg or medication for the condition. Independent childhood risk factors for adult hypertension included the individual's own blood pressure ( P P P =0.005), low parental occupational status ( P =0.003), and high genetic risk score ( P P =0.0007). Inclusion of both parental hypertension history and data on novel genetic variants for hypertension further improved the C statistics (0.742; P =0.015). Conclusions— Prediction of adult hypertension was enhanced by taking into account known physical and environmental childhood risk factors, family history of hypertension, and novel genetic variants. A multifactorial approach may be useful in identifying children at high risk for adult hypertension.

Background— Conventional risk factors and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are cross-sectionally associated with subclinical atherosclerosis in young adults. We evaluated the relations of conventional risk factors and MetS to the 6-year progression of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in a population of young adults. Results and Methods— The study included 1809 subjects (aged 32±5 years) who had IMT measured in 2001 and 2007. Risk factor measurements included low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, C-reactive protein, smoking, and family history of coronary disease in addition to MetS components. We used European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance, revised National Cholesterol Education Program, and International Diabetes Federation definitions to diagnose MetS in 2001. Waist circumference ( P P =0.01), and insulin ( P =0.003) were directly associated with IMT progression in a multivariable model adjusted for age, sex, and baseline IMT (model R 2 =24%). When the MetS/European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance definition was included in the model, it was directly associated with IMT progression ( P =0.03), but its inclusion did not improve the model’s predictive value. IMT increased 79±7 μm (mean±SEM) in subjects with MetS according to the MetS/European Group for the Study of Insulin Resistance definition and 42±2 μm in subjects without MetS ( P P Conclusions— Obesity, high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high insulin level predicted IMT progression in young adults. All MetS definitions identified young adults with accelerated IMT progression, but we found no evidence that MetS would predict IMT progression more than expected from the sum of its risk components.