Publication date: 01 Feb 2022
What is already known about this subject:
- Identifying risk of heart disease in childhood has relied on several different approaches including (i) assessment of individual measures such as body weight, blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood glucose, or (ii) estimation of their combined effects, or (iii) determining the presence of the so-called “metabolic syndrome” as defined by the International Diabetes Foundation.
- However, there is concern that some approaches may underestimate the number of children and adolescents at risk of future heart disease in adulthood.
- This study compared two approaches assessing the risk of heart disease in adolescents and young adults in Raine Study participants at 17 and 20 years of age.
What this study adds
- Estimating the risk for heart disease using a combination of body weight, blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood glucose showed that a substantially greater number of participants at 17- and 20-years were at a higher risk of heart disease than if they were classified by the presence of the “metabolic syndrome”. Therefore, use of the “metabolic syndrome” significantly underestimates the number of adolescents and young adults at long-term risk of heart disease.