Progression of conventional cardiovascular risk factors and vascular disease risk in individuals: insights from the PROG-IMT consortium.

Aims: Averaged measurements, but not the progression based on multiple assessments of carotid intima-media thickness, (cIMT) are predictive of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in individuals. Whether this is true for conventional risk factors is unclear.

Methods And Results: An individual participant meta-analysis was used to associate the annualised progression of systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with future cardiovascular disease risk in 13 prospective cohort studies of the PROG-IMT collaboration ( = 34,072).

Correction: Predictive value for cardiovascular events of common carotid intima media thickness and its rate of change in individuals at high cardiovascular risk - Results from the PROG-IMT collaboration.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Tracking and Variability in Childhood Levels of BMI: The Bogalusa Heart Study.

Objective: Although the tracking of BMI levels from childhood to adulthood has been examined, there is little information on the within-person variability of BMI.

Methods: Longitudinal data from 11,591 schoolchildren, 3,096 of whom were reexamined as adults, were used to explore the tracking and variability of BMI levels. This article focuses on changes in age-adjusted levels of BMI.

Predictive value for cardiovascular events of common carotid intima media thickness and its rate of change in individuals at high cardiovascular risk - Results from the PROG-IMT collaboration.

Aims: Carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) predicts cardiovascular (CVD) events, but the predictive value of CIMT change is debated. We assessed the relation between CIMT change and events in individuals at high cardiovascular risk.

Methods And Results: From 31 cohorts with two CIMT scans (total n = 89070) on average 3.

Impact of Lipid Measurements in Youth in Addition to Conventional Clinic-Based Risk Factors on Predicting Preclinical Atherosclerosis in Adulthood: International Childhood Cardiovascular Cohort Consortium.

Background: Data suggest that the prediction of adult cardiovascular disease using a model comprised entirely of adult nonlaboratory-based risk factors is equivalent to an approach that additionally incorporates adult lipid measures. We assessed and compared the utility of a risk model based solely on nonlaboratory risk factors in adolescence versus a lipid model based on nonlaboratory risk factors plus lipids for predicting high-risk carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in adulthood.

Methods: The study comprised 2893 participants 12 to 18 years of age from 4 longitudinal cohort studies from the United States (Bogalusa Heart Study and the Insulin Study), Australia (Childhood Determinants of Adult Health Study), and Finland (The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study) and followed into adulthood when cIMT was measured (mean follow-up, 23.

Childhood Age and Associations Between Childhood Metabolic Syndrome and Adult Risk for Metabolic Syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Carotid Intima Media Thickness: The International Childhood Cardiovascular Cohort Consortium.

Background: There is paucity of knowledge concerning the specific age in youth when the associations of metabolic syndrome (MetS) begin to be operative. Thus, we investigated the relation of age to the associations of childhood MetS with adult MetS, type 2 diabetes mellitus and high carotid intima-media thickness.

Methods And Results: Five thousand eight-hundred three participants were analyzed in 4 cohort studies (Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns, Bogalusa Heart Study, Princeton Lipid Research Study, Insulin Study).

Tracking of BMI Scores for Severe Obesity.

Background: Although the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) growth charts are widely used in studies of childhood obesity, BMI scores are known to be inaccurate at values greater than the 97th percentile.

Methods: We used longitudinal data from 6994 children in the Bogalusa Heart Study who were examined multiple times to compare tracking of 3 BMI metrics: BMI-for-sex/age score (BMI), BMI expressed as a percentage of the 95th percentile (%BMIp95), and levels of BMI score that adjust for the compression of very high scores (adjusted score [BMIa]). The later 2 metrics, unlike BMI, do not have an upper limit.

Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans.

An ongoing debate in demography has focused on whether the human lifespan has a maximal natural limit. Taking a mechanistic perspective, and knowing that short telomeres are associated with diminished longevity, we examined whether telomere length dynamics during adult life could set a maximal natural lifespan limit. We define leukocyte telomere length of 5 kb as the 'telomeric brink', which denotes a high risk of imminent death.

CPT1A methylation is associated with plasma adiponectin.

Background And Aims: Adiponectin, an adipose-secreted protein that has been linked to insulin sensitivity, plasma lipids, and inflammatory patterns, is an established biomarker for metabolic health. Despite clinical relevance and high heritability, the determinants of plasma adiponectin levels remain poorly understood.

Methods And Results: We conducted the first epigenome-wide cross-sectional study of adiponectin levels using methylation data on 368,051 cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites in CD4+ T-cells from the Genetics of Lipid Lowering Drugs and Diet Network (GOLDN, n = 991).

Adiposity and Cardiovascular Risk Factor Variables in Childhood Are Associated With Premature Death From Coronary Heart Disease in Adults: The Bogalusa Heart Study.

Background: More than 600 deaths of all causes have been documented over the 40-year duration of the Bogalusa Heart Study. Of these, 97 deaths have been related to cardiovascular events, based on obituaries published in local newspapers, death certificates obtained from the State Health Department, information from the coroner and word of mouth by nursing staff from the community.

Methods: This study was a retrospective longitudinal cohort with several observations of each subject.

Primordial Prevention of Cardiometabolic Risk in Childhood.

Fetal life and childhood are important in the development of cardiometabolic risk and later clinical disease of atherosclerosis, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Molecular and environmental conditions leading to cardiometabolic risk in early life bring us a challenge to develop effective prevention and intervention strategies to reduce cardiovascular (CV) risk in children and later disease. It is important that prevention strategies begin at an early age to reduce future CV morbidity and mortality.

Fine-mapping, novel loci identification, and SNP association transferability in a genome-wide association study of QRS duration in African Americans.

The electrocardiographic QRS duration, a measure of ventricular depolarization and conduction, is associated with cardiovascular mortality. While single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with QRS duration have been identified at 22 loci in populations of European descent, the genetic architecture of QRS duration in non-European populations is largely unknown. We therefore performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of QRS duration in 13,031 African Americans from ten cohorts and a transethnic GWAS meta-analysis with additional results from populations of European descent.

Birth weight was longitudinally associated with cardiometabolic risk markers in mid-adulthood.

Purpose: Birth weight (BW) is associated with risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease. The findings from studies examined the association of BW with metabolic markers of CV risk were inconsistent and controversial. We examined the association of BW with insulin resistance and blood lipids using repeated measures up to mid-adulthood.

Association of DNA Methylation at CPT1A Locus with Metabolic Syndrome in the Genetics of Lipid Lowering Drugs and Diet Network (GOLDN) Study.

In this study, we conducted an epigenome-wide association study of metabolic syndrome (MetS) among 846 participants of European descent in the Genetics of Lipid Lowering Drugs and Diet Network (GOLDN). DNA was isolated from CD4+ T cells and methylation at ~470,000 cytosine-phosphate-guanine dinucleotide (CpG) pairs was assayed using the Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. We modeled the percentage methylation at individual CpGs as a function of MetS using linear mixed models.

Normative values for carotid intima media thickness and its progression: Are they transferrable outside of their cohort of origin?

Background: The clinical use of carotid intima media thickness (cIMT) requires normal values, which may be subject to variation of geographical factors, ethnicity or measurement details. The influence of these factors has rarely been studied. The aim of this study was to determine whether normative cIMT values and their association with event risk are generalizable across populations.

Metabolic Syndrome: Bridging the Gap from Childhood to Adulthood.

Childhood and adolescence are particularly vulnerable periods of life to the effects of cardiometabolic risk and later development of atherosclerosis, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Developing countries with limited resources suffer most heavily from the consequences of cardiometabolic risk in children and its future implications to the global health burden. A better understanding of mechanisms leading to cardiometabolic risk in early life may lead to more effective prevention and intervention strategies to reduce metabolic stress in children and later disease.

Secondhand smoke exposure is associated with increased carotid artery intima-media thickness: the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Background: Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure increases cardiovascular disease risk. The objective of this study was to examine the association of SHS exposure in childhood and adulthood with adult arterial thickness.

Methods: The study cohort consisted of 415 nonsmoking adults (301 whites and 114 blacks; ages 26.

Timing of menarche related to carotid artery intima-media thickness in black and white young adult women: the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Purpose: The early onset of menarche is related to the adulthood risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease. This study examines the relation of early onset of menarche to carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), which is a surrogate marker of CV disease, among asymptomatic young adult women in a black-white community.

Methods: A cohort of 461 women (31% black, 69% white) aged 24 to 43 years (mean of 35.

Genetic association and gene-smoking interaction study of carotid intima-media thickness at five GWAS-indicated genes: the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Objectives: To examine the associations of five GWAS-identified genes with carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) in a biracial sample from the Bogalusa Heart Study, and evaluate their participation in gene-smoking interactions.

Methods: Far wall IMTs of common carotid arteries were measured using high-resolution B-mode ultrasound. Both the gene-smoking interactions and single-marker associations were evaluated by linear models of carotid IMT levels, while the gene-based analyses were assessed through the truncated product method.

DCAF4, a novel gene associated with leucocyte telomere length.

Background: Leucocyte telomere length (LTL), which is fashioned by multiple genes, has been linked to a host of human diseases, including sporadic melanoma. A number of genes associated with LTL have already been identified through genome-wide association studies. The main aim of this study was to establish whether DCAF4 (DDB1 and CUL4-associated factor 4) is associated with LTL.

Tobacco smoking strengthens the association of elevated blood pressure with arterial stiffness: the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Objectives: The study assessed the hypothesis that smoking strengthens the association of adult arterial stiffness with long-term cumulative burden of blood pressure (BP) from childhood to adulthood.

Backgrounds: Tobacco smoking and elevated BPs are important risk factors of vascular stiffness. However, the synergistic effect of these two risk factors is not well established, especially for the long-term burden of elevated BP since childhood.

Uric acid is associated with metabolic syndrome in children and adults in a community: the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Background: Elevated serum uric acid (UA) is commonly found in subjects with metabolic syndrome (MetS). This study examined the association of UA with levels of individual MetS components and the degree of their clustering patterns in both children and adults.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 2614 children aged 4-18 years and 2447 adults aged 19-54 years.

Impact of long-term burden of excessive adiposity and elevated blood pressure from childhood on adulthood left ventricular remodeling patterns: the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Background: Cardiovascular risk factors are associated with left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), but little is known regarding related impact of longitudinal measures of childhood adiposity and LV hemodynamic variables.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of cumulative long-term burden and trends of excessive adiposity and elevated blood pressure (BP) during childhood on adulthood LVH and LV geometric remodeling patterns.

Methods: This longitudinal study consisted of 1,061 adults, age 24 to 46 years, who had been examined 4 or more times for body mass index (BMI) and BP starting in childhood, with a mean follow-up of 28.

Cigarette smoking exacerbates the adverse effects of age and metabolic syndrome on subclinical atherosclerosis: the Bogalusa Heart Study.

Age and metabolic syndrome are major risk factors for atherosclerosis. However, limited information is available regarding whether cigarette smoking, another major, modifiable risk factor, has synergistic effects with age and metabolic syndrome on subclinical atherosclerosis, particularly in young adults. This aspect was examined in 1,051 adults (747 whites and 304 blacks; aged 24-43 years) from the Bogalusa Heart Study.