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Early origins of ethnic disparities in cardiovascular risk factors
Olta Gishti1, Romy Gaillard1, Janine F Felix1
1The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Insights
Ethnic differences in childhood cardiovascular risk factors exist in the Netherlands. Cape Verdean, Surinamese-Creole, and Turkish children show adverse profiles, largely due to parental and childhood factors.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Cardiology
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Limited data exists on ethnic variations in childhood cardiovascular risk factors within European nations.
- This study investigated ethnic disparities in cardiovascular risk factors among children in the Netherlands.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine ethnic differences in cardiovascular risk factors in a multi-ethnic cohort of Dutch children.
- To identify contributing factors to these observed ethnic differences.
Main Methods:
- A multi-ethnic, population-based, prospective cohort study was conducted.
- Key cardiovascular risk factors including blood pressure, left ventricular mass, cholesterol, triglyceride, and insulin levels were measured in children at a median age of 6.2 years.
Main Results:
- Cape Verdean and Turkish children exhibited higher blood pressure compared to Dutch children.
- Cape Verdean, Surinamese-Creole, and Turkish children had elevated total cholesterol levels.
- Turkish children showed higher triglyceride levels but lower insulin levels than Dutch children.
- Turkish children had a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular risk factor clustering (OR: 2.45).
- Parental pre-pregnancy factors accounted for up to 50% of ethnic differences, with pregnancy and childhood factors, and childhood Body Mass Index (BMI) explaining additional variance.
Conclusions:
- Children of Cape Verdean, Surinamese-Creole, and Turkish descent in the Netherlands present with an unfavorable cardiovascular risk profile compared to Dutch children.
- These ethnic disparities are substantially influenced by parental pre-pregnancy characteristics, pregnancy-related factors, and childhood Body Mass Index (BMI).
Background:
Not much is known about the ethnic differences in cardiovascular risk factors during childhood in European countries. We examined the ethnic differences in childhood cardiovascular risk factors in the Netherlands.
Methods:
In a multi-ethnic population-based prospective cohort study, we measured blood pressure, left ventricular mass, and levels of cholesterol, triglyceride and insulin at the median age of 6.2years.
Results:
As compared to Dutch children, Cape Verdean and Turkish children had a higher blood pressure, whereas Cape Verdean, Surinamese-Creole and Turkish children had higher total-cholesterol levels (p-values<0.05). Turkish children had higher triglyceride levels, but lower insulin levels than Dutch children (p-values<0.05). As compared to Dutch children, only Turkish children had an increased risk of clustering of cardiovascular risk factors (odds ratio: 2.45 (95% confidence interval 1.18, 3.37)). Parental pre-pregnancy factors explained up to 50% of the ethnic differences in childhood risk factors. In addition to these factors, pregnancy and childhood factors and childhood BMI explained up to 50%, 12.5% and 61.1%, respectively.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that compared to Dutch children, Cape Verdean, Surinamese-Creole and Turkish children have an adverse cardiovascular profile. These differences are largely explained by parental pre-pregnancy factors, pregnancy factors and childhood BMI.
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