PEDIATRICS Vol. 80 No. 5 November 1987, pp. 807-816
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Predictive Value of Parental Measures in Determining Cardiovascular Risk Factor Variables in Early Life

P. A. Rosenbaum PhD1, R. C. Elston PhD1, S. R. Srinivasan PhD1, L. S. Webber PhD1, and G. S. Berenson MD1

1 From the Departments of Biometry and Genetics and Medicine, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, and Department of Biology, State University of New York, College at Oswego, Oswego, New York

Parent-child associations of height, weight, subscapular skinfold thickness, blood pressure, and serum lipids and lipoproteins were observed in a cohort of 440 infants and their parents in Bogalusa, LA. The infants were examined according to a standardized protocol six times from birth to 7 years of age, and the parents were examined when the child was 2 years old. Regression analyses were performed with the value of the cardiovascular risk factor variable for the child as the dependent variable and race, sex of child, and either mother's value, father's value, or both mother's and father's values as the independent variables. The most significant relationship between parents and their children was for height (P < .005 at all ages of the child) and weight (P < .05 from age 1 year for father's regression coefficient and at all ages for mother's regression coefficient). Regression coefficients for parental serum lipids and lipoproteins tended to increase with the child's age. Child-father regression coefficients and child-mother regression coefficients were generally significant (P < .05) after age 2 years for total cholesterol. Less association was noted for triglycerides and lipoproteins. Parental diastolic BP was a poor predictor of children's values; the regression coefficients for systolic BP were higher and more significant. The longitudinal nature of this cohort study allows for examination of the changing patterns of familial association with aging and may provide insight as to the best age for examining children for cardiovascular risk factors to determine their relative risk for heart disease.

Key Words: cardiovascular risk factor • genetics • lipoprotein cholesterol • triglycerides • height • weight • skinfold thickness • blood pressure