Familial aggregation of cardiovascular risk factors—the Rio de Janeiro study

Abstract

Disturbance of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, overweight, and high blood pressure seem to be strongly aggregated in families, constituting the multiple metabolic syndrome. In order to investigate these findings, 259 children and adolescents, came from a blood pressure (BP) study developed in 1987–89, were evaluated with their parents (n=414) and siblings (n=519) 10 years later. Clinical (BP, weight, sex, and age) and laboratorial (cholesterol [C], HDL cholesterol [HDL], LDL cholesterol [LDL], triglycerides [TG], and insulin [I]) data were obtained. A standardized regression analyses of the residuals (predicted value subtracted from measured value) was adapted for each lipid, anthropometric and BP variables. Sex, age, and weight were used to adjust BP correlations and sex, age, weight, and BP were used to control lipids correlations. The correlation coefficients found were expressed in the table below:

These data show a strong familial aggregation of cardiovascular risk factors, specially with mothers and sons, suggesting that genetic and environmental factors play an important role in this determinism. Moreover, these findings reinforce the concept that primary prevention should begin early in life.