Tracking of cardiometabolic risk factor clustering from childhood to adulthood

Cardiometabolic risk factor clustering is predictive of future cardiovascular disease. If clustering of risk factors is a stable characteristic from childhood to adulthood, then intervention in high-risk children may provide an early opportunity to decrease the progression to overt cardiovascular disease outcomes. Thus, the purpose of this paper was to review the evidence for risk factor clustering being a stable characteristic from childhood to adulthood. Seven articles were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Despite varying definitions of risk factor clustering and different methodologies for assessing tracking, the results generally showed stability of risk factor clustering from childhood into adulthood. Inter-age correlations of risk factor cluster scores ranged from 0.42 to 0.67, and the proportions of individuals remaining in the upper quantiles of risk over time were significantly greater than predicted by chance alone. Future studies are needed to elucidate the effects of gender, ethnicity, and lifestyle behaviors on the tracking of risk factor clustering.