Cardiovascular risk factors and its patterns of change between 4 and 8 years of age in the INMA-Asturias cohort

Abstract

Aim This study aimed to investigate whether there are subgroups of children with different clusters of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors at 4 and 8 years of age, and their patterns of change between these two time points. Methods The analysis was conducted in 332 children who participated in the INMA-Asturias cohort (Spain) at 4 and at 8 years of age. The CVD risk factors were central obesity, dyslipidaemia, hyperglycaemia, and hypertension. Latent transition analysis was used to identify the different clusters and their probabilities of change. Results At 4 years, three subgroups were identified: no disorders (prevalence of 55.9%); some disorders (21.2%), and central obesity (22.9%). Three distinct subgroups were identified at 8 years: no disorders (59.8%); hypertension (17.9%), and central obesity (22.3%). Central obesity at 4 years tends to appear simultaneously with dyslipidaemia, while at 8 years it tends to appear simultaneously with dyslipidaemia and/or hypertension. Children aged 4 years with no disorders had a 93.7% probability of remaining in the same status at 8 years of age. Children aged 4 who had some disorders had a 67.7% of probability of having only hypertension and a 32.3% of probability of having central obesity. Children aged 4 in the central obesity subgroup had a 32.4% of probability of having no disorders at 8 years of age, while 67.6% still had central obesity. Conclusions These exploratory findings suggest that children who do not present any disorder at 4 years of age tend to remain in that state at 8 years of age. And also that central obesity may play a major role in the development of other disorders, as the number of disorders with which it concomitantly occurs increases between the ages of 4 and 8 years.