Key result
Lower parental education links to lower childhood CVD risk scores compared to high education.
Why the study?
Does parental educational level affect cardiovascular disease risk in Portuguese children?
Cross-Sectional (n=359)
Does parental educational level affect cardiovascular disease risk in Portuguese children?
p-value: p=0.01
In Portuguese children, higher parental educational level and higher BMI are associated with greater cardiovascular disease risk.
Higher parental education associated with greater child CVD risk here; leaves open whether SES shapes early cardiovascular profiles.
The aim of this study was to examine any differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in Portuguese children split by parental educational level. A cross-sectional school-based study was conducted in 2011 on 359 Portuguese children (202 girls and 157 boys) aged 10 to 17 years (mean age ± SD = 13.9 ± 1.98 years). Height and body mass were assessed to determine body mass index (BMI). Parental education level (PEL) was used as a surrogate for socioeconomic status (SES). Capillary blood sampling was used to determine: Total Cholesterol (TC), Triglycerides (TG), Fasting Glucos (GLUC), High and Low Density Lipoprotein (HDL/LDL). These measurements were combined with measures of systolic blood pressure and cardiorespiratory fitness as z-scores. CVD risk was constructed by summing the z-scores. Analysis of covariance, controlling for BMI, indicated that CVD risk was significantly different across PEL groups (p = 0.01), with CVD risk score being significantly lower in low (p = 0.04) and middle (p = 0.008) PEL groups, compared to high PEL. Moreover, the covariate, BMI was also significant (p = 0.0001, β = 0.023), evidencing a significant positive association between BMI and CVD risk, with higher BMI associated with greater CVD risk. In Portuguese children, significantly greater CVD risk was found for children of high PEL, while higher BMI was associated with greater CVD risk.
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Duncan et al. (2012) conducted a cross-sectional in Cardiovascular Disease Risk (n=359). Low and middle parental educational level vs. High parental educational level was evaluated on Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk score (sum of z-scores) (p=0.01). In Portuguese children, cardiovascular disease risk scores were significantly lower in those with low (p=0.04) and middle (p=0.008) parental educational levels compared to those with high levels.
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