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Excess growth during childhood is associated with adult coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke
Author(s) -
Baker Jennifer Lyn,
Olsen Lina Wøhlk,
Sørensen Thorkild I.A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a168-b
Subject(s) - danish , medicine , stroke (engine) , coronary heart disease , demography , disease , pediatrics , mechanical engineering , philosophy , linguistics , sociology , engineering
Objective: Few studies have investigated whether excess growth during childhood has long‐term health consequences. We investigated if pre‐pubertal change in BMI from 7–10y is associated with an increased risk of CHD and stroke in adulthood. Methods: Subjects were 120,444 boys and 117,445 girls born between 1930–1975 from the Copenhagen School Health Records Register. BMI values were calculated and transformed to z‐scores. Change in BMI was the difference in z‐scores from 7–10y. CHD and stroke status were obtained from Danish Hospital and Cause of Death Registers. Cox regressions were performed. Results: Among boys, an increase of 1 z‐score in BMI from 7–10y was associated with a 17.6% (95% CI: 1.13–1.23) increased risk of CHD, but not with a significantly elevated risk of stroke (5.8% risk, 95% CI: 0.99–1.13). Among girls, an increase of 1 z‐score in BMI from 7–10y was associated with a 19.3% (95% CI: 1.12–1.27) increased risk of CHD and with a 10.4% (95% CI: 1.03–1.18) increased risk of stroke. Conclusions: Excess pre‐pubertal growth during childhood increases the risk of adult CHD and stroke. These results suggest there are possibilities for intervention during childhood to prevent the negative consequences of excess childhood growth on adult health. Supported by: NIH NRSA 1F32DK070491‐01 (to JLB), Danish Heart Foundation 04‐10‐B191‐A285‐22201 (to LWO) & Danish National Research Foundation