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

• Published in: PloS one 2023-04, Vol.18 (4), p.e0283799-e0283799
• Main Authors: Fernández-Iglesias, Rocío, Fernández-Somoano, Ana, Rodríguez-Dehli, Cristina, Venta-Obaya, Rafael, Riaño-Galán, Isolina, Tardón, Adonina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Biology and Life Sciences; Blood pressure; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology; Cardiovascular Diseases - etiology; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Clusters; Development and progression; Diabetes; Diagnosis; Disorders; Dyslipidemia; Dyslipidemias - complications; Dyslipidemias - epidemiology; Glucose; Health aspects; Health risks; Heart Disease Risk Factors; Heart diseases; Humans; Hyperglycemia; Hypertension; Hypertension - complications; Hypertension - epidemiology; Laboratories; Longitudinal studies; Medicine and Health Sciences; Metabolic disorders; Obesity; Obesity - complications; Obesity, Abdominal - complications; Obesity, Abdominal - epidemiology; Physical Sciences; Pregnancy; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Statistical analysis; Subgroups; Type 2 diabetes; Values; Variables
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283799

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. 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. 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. 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.