Abstract P372: Behavioral Cardiovascular Health in Children With Chronic Conditions

Background: A quarter of children in the United States have at least one chronic condition which translates to worse health than their peers. However, there is little information about cardiovascular health (CVH) among children with chronic conditions. Methods: We used data from the Young Hearts study, an ongoing longitudinal cohort of CVH trajectories in youth aged 0-20 years. Parents (and children aged 12+ years) completed surveys on CVH behaviors, medical history, and social context. We included children with complete baseline data. Participants were categorized as having at least one self-reported chronic condition or no chronic condition. We calculated CVH using the behavioral components of the American Heart Association Life’s Essential 8 (diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep). Each component was scored from 0 (most adverse) to 100 (ideal) and averaged to create a composite behavioral (b) CVH score. We used linear regression to assess the association between chronic condition status (any, none) and bCVH score, adjusting for age, sex, race, ethnicity, insurance type, and household income. Results: We identified 1138 children with at least one chronic condition and 1406 children without any chronic conditions. Among those with chronic conditions, the most common were heart disease (14.9%), asthma (11.2%), and vision problems/blindness (9.7%). In fully adjusted models (Table), we found individuals with any chronic condition had a 1.3 point lower (95% CI -2.5, -0.2) bCVH score on average. Children with chronic conditions had lower (less favorable) scores for sleep (-4.2; 95% CI -7.1, -1.4) and physical activity (-3.7; 95% CI -6.3, -1.2) compared to their peers with no chronic conditions, but a higher (more favorable) nicotine exposure score (1.4; 95% CI 0.5, 2.4). Conclusion: As a group, children with chronic conditions had worse bCVH scores than their peers without chronic conditions. Further research is needed to understand these differences and support CVH promotion in children with chronic conditions.