High, increasing BMI in childhood tied to cardiovascular risk in adulthood

Children with an increasing trajectory of body mass index (BMI) are at a greater risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in adulthood, a recent study has shown.

The study included 2,839 children (aged 6–18 years) in whom BMI was measured three to six times over the course of childhood and adolescence. CVD outcomes included hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and high-risk lipid profiles, carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV).

Three BMI trajectories were identified: low-increasing (n=1,324), moderate-increasing (n=1,178) and high-increasing (n=337). Those in the last group had moderate BMI values at baseline, which then increased over the 30-year follow-up, exceeding the middle group’s measurements by approximately 18 years of age.

Participants in the moderate-increasing and high-increasing BMI groups had significantly higher cIMT and baPWV values than the low-increasing arm (p<0.001). Similar patterns were observed in terms of blood pressure and lipid profiles.

Logistic regression analysis confirmed that participants in the high-increasing BMI trajectory group were twice as likely as their low-increasing comparators to have hypertension (risk ratio [RR], 3.95, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 2.80–5.57; p<0.001), type 2 diabetes (RR, 4.45, 95 percent CI, 2.41–8.22; p<0.001) and high-risk triglyceride levels (RR, 3.61, 95 percent CI, 2.49–5.23; p<0.001).

A similar effect was reported for high-risk baPWV (RR, 2.75, 95 percent CI, 1.94–3.91; p<0.001) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (RR, 3.11, 95 percent CI, 2.21–4.36; p<0.001) profiles.

With the exception of baPWV and type 2 diabetes, the above correlations remained true for the moderate-increasing BMI trajectory group.