A lifestyle pattern during adolescence is associated with cardiovascular risk markers in young adults: results from the DONALD cohort study

• Published in: Journal of nutritional science (Cambridge) 2021, Vol.10, p.e92-e92, Article e92
• Main Authors: Schnermann, Maike Elena, Schulz, Christina-Alexandra, Herder, Christian, Alexy, Ute, Nöthlings, Ute
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescent lifestyle; Adult; Adults; Age; Behavior; Beverages; Blood pressure; Body composition; Body mass index; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular disease risk; Cardiovascular Diseases - prevention & control; Child development; Cohort analysis; Cohort Studies; Combined lifestyle factors; Diet; Dietary Surveys and Nutritional Epidemiology; Female; Food; Heart Disease Risk Factors; Humans; Life Style; Lifestyle pattern; Lifestyles; Male; Metabolism; Nutrition research; Questionnaires; Risk Factors; Sleep; Standard deviation; Teenagers; Triglycerides; Waist-Height Ratio; Young Adult; Young adults
• ISSN: 2048-6790; 2048-6790
• DOI: 10.1017/jns.2021.84

Lifestyle score approaches combining individual lifestyle factors, e.g. favourable diet, physical activity or normal body weight, showed inverse associations with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, research mainly focussed on adult behaviour and is scarce for vulnerable time windows for adult health like adolescence. We investigated associations between an adolescent lifestyle score and CVD risk markers in young adulthood. Overall, we analysed 270 participants of the open DONALD cohort study with 1–6 complete measurements of five lifestyle factors (healthy diet, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep duration and BMI standard deviation score) during adolescence (females: 8⋅5–15⋅5 years and males: 9⋅5–16⋅5 years). Multivariable linear regression models were used to investigate the prospective association between the adolescent lifestyle score (0–5 points) and CVD risk markers in young adulthood (18–30 years). On average, participants obtained a mean adolescent lifestyle score of 2⋅9 (0–5) points. Inverse associations between the adolescent lifestyle score and waist circumference, waist-to-height ratio and percentage of body fat were observed (4⋅1, 4⋅1 and 9⋅2 % decrease per 1 point increase in adolescent lifestyle score, respectively, P < 0⋅05). For the remaining CVD risk markers (glucose, blood lipids, blood pressure and a proinflammatory score), no associations were observed. A healthy adolescent lifestyle is particularly associated with CVD risk-related favourable anthropometric markers in adulthood. A more comprehensive understanding of lifestyle patterns in the life course might enable earlier, targeted preventive measures to assist vulnerable groups in prevention of chronic diseases.