Study Reveals Childhood Risk Factors Predicting Heart Attack or Stroke as Adults

Experts from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute have identified some of the childhood risk factors that could predict if a kid is a likely candidate for heart attack or stroke when he's an adult.

In the New England Journal of Medicine study, the experts said that body mass index, the blood pressure rate, and cholesterol and triglycerides in the body might be tied to cardiovascular problems by the time the child grows up to be 40 years old. If the child started smoking in his youth, he would be at higher risk for stroke and heart attack as well.

Around 40,000 participants from all over the world, who are average, 35 years old, were tracked for this study. The findings indicated that even if just one of these risk factors is present in a child between the ages of 3 to 19, they could have cardiovascular episodes in adulthood.

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Early Intervention from Parents

However, despite the findings, parents may still apply early intervention measures to ensure that their son or daughter won't suffer from a heart attack or stroke later in life. Terence Dwyer, the lead study author, said that the children's outcome would depend on the preventive strategies adopted by the families, per the press release published in EurekAlert.

This means that prevention against cardiovascular issues starts during childhood and not when the person is in middle age when people begin to take their health more seriously. Dwyer also said that it's been a well-known fact that kids as young as five years old are already showing "early signs of fatty deposits in arteries." He said parents can do so much more during their offspring's childhood and adolescent phases to "reduce lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease."

At the Norton Children's Hospital in Kentucky, doctors said that they see more kids needing screening for a heart condition. Some of these cases may be genetic, but it's concerning because inherited heart issues may also weaken the heart valves.

Heart Disease or Stroke Facts in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 877,500 Americans succumb to heart attacks, heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems every year. Of these numbers, less than 200,000 are below 18 years old. Heart disease is the first leading cause of death among Americans, and the risk factors are the same in both children and adults.

The experts said that heart issues would be surging in the coming years due to the impact of the pandemic when many people have also set aside their regular health check-ups. The increasing dependency on gadgets makes young children less mobile and not physically active. Per the CDC, a sedentary lifestyle can lead to heart issues even if the person has no known risk factors before.

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