Family history of cardiovascular disease and parental lifestyle behaviors are associated with offspring cardiovascular disease risk markers in childhood

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular disease risk markers have become more prevalent in childhood. To provide increased understanding of the etiology of this public health issue, we investigated associations between family characteristics with cardiovascular disease risk markers in adolescents from a developing nation. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study data for fasting glucose, lipoproteins (LDL-C and HDL-C), triglycerides, and total cholesterol were collected from 991 adolescents aged 10–17 who were recruited from public schools in Londrina city, Southern Brazil. Family history of cardiovascular disease and parental engagement in risk behavior (alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking) were collected using a self-reported parental questionnaire. Socioeconomic status, adolescent physical activity (estimated by Baecke questionnaire), self-reported tobacco and alcohol intake, and somatic maturation (age at peak height velocity) were used as covariates. Logistic regression was used for the main analyses. RESULTS: Independent of adolescent lifestyle behaviors, associations (ORadj [95% CI]) were found between: (1) paternal family history of cardiovascular disease with increased likelihood of high adolescent offspring BMI (1.53 [1.01 to 2.32]) and high triglycerides (2.93 [1.04 to 8.27]); (2) maternal family history of cardiovascular disease with heightened odds of high adolescent offspring triglycerides (2.84 [1.02 to 7.91]); (3) maternal cardiovascular disease with higher odds of high fasting glucose (2.16 [1.13 to 4.14]), and (4) maternal smoking with increased odds of high LDL-C (1.78 [1.14 to 2.79]) and high total cholesterol (1.77 [1.01 to 3.10]) in adolescent offspring. CONCLUSION: Family history of cardiovascular disease and maternal tobacco smoking are related to increased cardiovascular risk in adolescents, potentially independent of their own lifestyle behaviors.