Abstract
Major cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors begin development in childhood and adolescence. Project HeartBeat! studied early development of these risk factors as growth processes. Growth, body composition, sexual maturation, major CVD risk factors, and cardiac structure and function were monitored every 4 months for up to 4 years among 678 children and adolescents (49.1% girls; 20.1% blacks) aged 8, 11, or 14 years at study entry. All resided in The Woodlands or Conroe TX. Interviews were conducted at entry and annually on diet, physical activity, and health history of participants and their families. Data were collected from 1991 to 1995, and study investigators continue data analysis and reporting. Overlap in ages at examination among three cohorts (aged 8-12, 11-15, and 14-18 years at baseline) and use of multilevel modeling methods permit analysis of some 5500 observations on each principal variable for the synthetic cohort from ages 8 to 18 years. The mixed-longitudinal design provides trajectories of change with age, for total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides; systolic, and fourth-phase and fifth-phase diastolic blood pressure, and left ventricular mass. These trajectories are then related to concurrent measures of multiple indices of body composition and sexual maturation and adjusted for energy intake and physical activity. The data provide valuable insights into risk factor development and suggest a fresh approach to understanding influences on blood lipids, blood pressure, and left ventricular mass during the period of childhood and adolescence, a period of dynamic change in these risk factors.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | S9-S16 |
| Journal | American Journal of Preventive Medicine |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 1 SUPPL. |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 2009 |
Funding
In addition, funds were not initially available for genetic studies or for certain biochemical determinations of interest, such as blood glucose and insulin. Subsequently, genotyping of girls was supported through a grant from the Women's Fund, and more recently, of boys also, with support from NIH. Self-report on interview items may entail reporting error, but this was thought to be limited to some degree by parental participation in child and adolescent interviews. Data were evaluated for reliability as, for example, when improbable values of caloric intake were calculated on the basis of the dietary recall interview; in such circumstances, infrequent though they were, the data were excluded from analysis. Project HeartBeat! has been supported by the following research awards from NIH and the CDC: UO1 HL41166; 1 RO3 HL57101; 1 RO3 HL59223 (cardiac development); and CDC contract PO# 0009966385, Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement 00IPA24501, and Cooperative Agreement U48/CCU609653. Additional support from the Compaq Computer Corporation and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health, is also gratefully acknowledged.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Epidemiology
