Cardiometabolic risk factors in children and youth: Moving from recognition to action

Cardiovascular disease has its origins early in life.Obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and chronic low-grade inflammation can be identified during childhood, often long before the onset of clinical cardiovascular disease.Longitudinal evidence demonstrates that these early cardiometabolic risk factors are associated with subclinical vascular changes and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in adulthood.We argue that the central challenge is no longer simply whether such risk can be detected, but whether families, schools, health systems, and policymakers are prepared to act early enough to alter its trajectory.Early cardiometabolic biomarkers are important both beyond the clinic, where they can mobilize prevention, and within clinical settings, where they can refine risk stratification.This is particularly urgent in regions undergoing rapid nutritional transition, including the MENA region, where a key priority is to determine which interventions are most effective once elevated risk has been identified.